ROTMG SEQUEL
by Candylantis
Summary: Special Thanks to Chrono (a Rotmg Username) who was the original poster and creator, and I've been playing Rotmg since February 7, 2015 and i strongly recommend this game and also while this may not be entirely accurate according to the game...Enjoy! Also;Plz Follow my google plus and can also use to ask questions, this is the 2nd ROTMG NOVEL with the 3rd, ROTMG FINALE coming soon.
1. ROTMG SEQUEL:NOVEL I

**RotMG Sequel: Chapter I**

In the Realm, it seemed that humble beginnings rarely achieved any sort of success — a success that, according to the veterans, was based upon survival and economic accomplishment. Strength, wit, and agility in battle were especially valued, as was one's stash of battle spoils, but there was hardly anything beyond that. Due to the world's high mortality rate, it was hard for most people to survive even on a daily basis. There was, first and foremost, the question of protection. To say that each and every human in the Realm would eventually find themselves pitted against hordes of monsters was no understatement; in fact, the human race frequently found itself vastly outnumbered. The Mad God's minions spawned to no end, and not a day passed by without battle; there would be mass casualties, dozens injured, and hundreds dead.

The internal monster that attacked each human — such things known as hunger or thirst — was solved by the trading of battle equipment for food. Fortunately the Realm did have towns — four, to be exact — and there were settlers who farmed and raised livestock; the world seemed, for some reason (especially around Nexus) to be abundant in sheep. There were chickens as well, and every once in a while a large mutated chicken — otherwise known as the 'Evil Chicken God' (but it was perfectly harmless) — would arrive, begging to be slain by travelers. None really knew where they came from, for few people ever delved into the secrets of the Realm's providence — most were too busy dealing with the world's abundance of cruel harshness. Every day there were deaths, and friends, loved ones, and even family would be separated from each other. Those who lived too long in cities ran out of equipment to trade and starved to death, and the battle against Oryx was an eternal one, for the Mad God would return every time he was defeated; it was quite literally impossible for any mortal to slay a God.

It was no surprise, then, that human goodwill — a necessity formed from the imperative demand for cooperation amongst people in the Realm — would create charities and the like to ease the sheer magnitude of suffering in the world. It was a new concept, especially to the veterans, who did not resort to begging and had always fought to carve out a niche in the world for themselves. Furthermore, due to the anarchist nature of the Realm — even in towns, there was absolutely no government — large organizations were difficult to establish. But perhaps it was due to the increase in newcomers arriving into the Realm over time that sparked such a demand for charity, and veterans soon began donating to those groups in order to preserve the generosity that had always been their self-image. By far the largest was the center in Dale's Port, which gave out free equipment to registered individuals in exchange for communal service; there was absolutely no debt.

When it came to the beginnings of one's journey, most people found themselves sorely out of luck. With no memory of their past lives, hundreds were sent out each day carrying a simple weapon — such as a staff, a wand, or a bow — and left to fend for themselves. Almost half of them would eventually die off in about a year; those who survived longer were generally considered to be official "citizens" of the Realm. It was perhaps easier, however, for those who came (miraculously) with memories of their past lives still intact; easier still if these _memories_ manifested themselves in the form of an actual person. In fact, to have a familiar companion with oneself was perhaps better than any skill or weapon. It had been observed many times that in strange and unknown places (such as an Abyss) humans tend to seek the company of others to share in their fear; in doing so their own fear and worry were lessened. In such a terrifying place as the Realm of the Mad God a companion would then be an imperious desire; one that perhaps becomes the very source of a person's comfort, and they would cling onto it and protect it with all their life.

* * *

 _Damn. The worst time of day is the moment you wake up in the morning._ To him the waking mind was something that had to be endured; at least in sleep, his discomfort was diminished. The boy sat up and stretched his weary arms, though he kept his eyes closed — he was still too tired to open them. A second later he plopped back down upon the bed, though he hardly believed that he could fall asleep again — the gleaming sunlight shining through the window reminded him of something; something important that he knew he had planned for and had to get done today. And the birds chirping on the branches of the trees outside were noisy and distracting.

Milam was such an individual who had the benefit of familiarity. The cleric was about seventeen years old; a tall boy with dark blond hair and green eyes; he had a high forehead that gave him an intelligent, yet also somewhat pretentious look, as well as a wide nose and a rounded chin. As a half-citizen of the Realm (it had been six months since he woke up in this world) Milam had fared quite well, having recently purchased a small house to live in within the town of Dale's Port at the western half of the world. Although his equipment was excellent, the same could not be said about his economic status. The purchase had cost him almost all his belongings and he departed to his new home with barely a health pot to spare. He had arrived hungry and lived rather malnourished for a few weeks, feeding himself upon bread, rice, and a few vegetables. The Health Pots — which always existed in abundance around the economy (and in some places were even free) — provided him with adequate nourishment due to its healing properties, and by the end of his first month he had managed to keep himself in apt health. But by then Milam was sick of going to bed hungry each night, and he did not want his companion to live so miserably alongside him.

Not long after arriving into the Realm Milam had found a distant cousin of his — a relative that he remembered in his vague memories — wandering around Nexus, lonely and confused. His name was Kirie, a boy who was about six years younger than Milam — making him perhaps one of the youngest people in the entire Realm. Kirie happened to look very different than Milam, but he had been easy to recognize; the boy had long and straight black hair that fell just above his gray eyes, and his small nose, eyes, and mouth gave him an almost androgynous look. Milam didn't know Kirie that well and the two had kept their distance at first, but eventually Kirie — with nowhere else to turn (he could not fight any monsters) — returned to Milam and asked if he could tag along.

The older boy was somewhat of an introvert, and thought that he was getting along fine in the Realm. At that time luck had served him well, and Milam had already acquired for himself his present-day equipment: the Wand of Shadow, procured through a hunt in some obscure cave for demons; a red healing tome (which was supposedly forged by the hands of Oryx himself) had been given to him as a gift by a veteran Priest; he had fought and defeated a Cube God in Ranorn Forest to acquire the beautiful green Elder Robe, and finally a large onyx-studded ring was gotten as a hunting trophy from a Medusa, which he had slain with a group in Amerdoth. He valued by far the robe the most, for it was weaved of an extremely expensive material — he believed it was Emerald Silk, acquired from trades between the Realm-elves back in the days when those forest men were still sane.

He could've been a lot richer if he had sold his equipment, but the cleric had refused to; he felt somewhat attached to his gear, as if they were a part of him. As Milam walked down the stairs of his house, he once again considered this appealing alternative — it bothered him almost every day - and again, he denied thinking any further of it. He remembered how he had found that valley with the pit in the middle of the Euryon Highlands, and how he — along with that veteran priest, whose name was Sven — had crawled through it together. Afterwards they fought through a cave that was apparently a demon's nest — not like an abyss, more like a gathering place — and how he found, in their treasury at the end, the dynamically powerful Shadow Wand. That had been one of those most intense and exciting experiences of his life, and Milam did not want to forget about it by selling the spoils that he had acquired.

Kirie always awoke earlier than him, and now the boy stood in the dining room with 'breakfast' out on the table — leftover vegetables and rice from last night. This time Milam did not bother eating anything, and he simply grabbed his wand before preparing to head out the door.

"Are you going to buy something?" Kirie came running down their living room hall and stood with his arms folded in front of the older boy.

Just last night Milam had concluded that if Kirie were to be useful in any way, he might as well find something interesting to do while he was around the house. In terms of entertainment the Realm did not offer much, especially with its lack of electronic technology. A few classic games and activities, such as chess or cards, were easy enough for the people in the Realm to recreate. But even that had gotten old, and soon people began to delve into more complicated things, such as music or art or even mathematics. Both Kirie and Milam expressed interest in music, but at the moment they were far too poor to pursue any of it.

"I'll look around," Milam responded. "I'm not going to guarantee anything, though." Kirie gave an odd smile and then leaned against the wall.

"I'm going to the market today. If I'm not back by the afternoon, assume that I won't be coming back until tomorrow."

The town was Dale's Port, and it was fairly modern for a city of the Realm, with buildings and houses that were made of brick and stone; the city had been built beside the sea and was located upon the western coast of the highlands. In terms of design the town was quite orderly, with districts for various industries such as construction or trade; they were all connected to one main central road that circled around the city, creating a pathway between the busy town square — which was located right beside the beach — and the ship-filled ports. Along this road, and especially at the beach — where business and people were most festive - would be the food markets; equipment stores were generally placed within the town's interior neighbourhoods. Today it was bright and sunny outside (as were most days in the Realm), and there was a cool and salty sea breeze in the air. The morning atmosphere seemed to cheer Milam up a little as he proceeded towards the town square.

He would, along the way, stop to visit the local charity.

The charity at Dale's Port was a large and nameless building that lay right beside the entrance to the markets; it was about an hour's walk away from his home. Being the largest in the entire Realm, the streets beside the charity were usually crowded with people lining up for its services. Milam had arrived early, however, and there were not too many people there except for a few workers. A rock garden filled with green, yellow, and pink cherry shrubs heralded the entrance into the building; the main road leading through it was surrounded by vaults containing various assortments of unique plants, such as red cacti-like flowers or blue thistles. He walked along this road, which circled around the exterior edge of the garden, before arriving at the entrance gate.

 _Maybe I should've asked Kirie if he wanted to come along with me. It's going to be a long day; I might get a little bored walking by myself._

Not long after he knocked upon the door did a few people come and allowed him to enter, greeting him with warm smiles. For a second Milam wondered why he had not arrived earlier; the place seemed friendly enough, and his economic condition definitely needed improving. Perhaps he had thought himself above charities, considering his high quality equipment and fighting experience; it was not until Kirie came along that he actually began to become poor. I hope the people who run this charity don't turn me down when they see my gear, Milam thought.

The cleric had noticed, strangely, that the guards continued smiling for a few seconds after he passed by them; they seemed to stare blankly into space as Milam went through the door. Afterwards they returned back to normal and closed up the gate behind them. He didn't seem to think much of it at the time, though.

A large portion of the inside of the building appeared to be a stone hallway with a high ceiling; here, the walls had been painted yellow, and at certain intervals the hall would arrive at a junction where it would branch off into other passageways that were lined with doors. Large flaming torches and high windows lined the walls of the hallway, and at the end there was a large bronze door; the place seemed more of a castle than a charity location. Nevertheless, Milam calmly approached the door, and he tried to avoid putting up a business air around himself; his equipment was already enough of an indication that he was not really that poor. This was a bit hard to do with the cleric's normally pretentious demeanor.

 _Oh, dammit. Maybe I should've left all my gear back at home…_

The door swung open with ease and he arrived at the manager's room, where sat an elderly man in a black suit behind a large wooden desk. There were two people beside him: one was a tall woman with long, curly blond hair, and the other was a man of larger bulk, who had black hair and tanned skin. They looked welcoming enough, if not slightly bureaucratic (which was an odd thing to see in the Realm). Milam slowly stepped forward and tried to present himself as formally as possible.

"Good morning," Milam said to the man in the suit, bowing slightly. It was the curly-haired woman who stepped forward and greeted him in response. "You have need of our services?"

Milam nodded. "I don't look very poor, but I live with-"

"You don't look poor? Nonsense!" the lady responded, and she stepped forward to shake Milam's hand — much to the cleric's surprise. "Here, let me introduce ourselves. My name is Selena; that's Belk over there —" she pointed to the man with the black hair "- and our chairman is Artem. We're here to provide services for you whenever you need them."

Milam felt a bit taken aback by this. It was a bit strange for Selena to insist that he was poor; that seemed a very odd thing to tell others. The cleric nodded again and tried not to think much of it. He looked towards the man behind the desk and saw that Artem, too, was smiling cheerfully at him; at the moment, Milam thought that something didn't seem right. The guards back at the entrance gate of the building smiled an awful lot as well. He supposed that if he was running a charity he would also have his employees appear as friendly as possible, especially since such an organization aimed to provide aid to others. Their welcoming demeanor eventually convinced Milam that nothing was really wrong; after all, at the moment, he was in much need of their help. The cleric quickly let the thought pass that something was amiss.

"We'll start you off with some gear," Belk said as the large man stepped forward. He seemed completely oblivious of the fact that Milam was wearing an Elder Robe, one of the most powerful pieces of equipment in the entire Realm. Nevertheless, Milam nodded and accepted Belk's offer kindly.

Artem turned around in his chair and retrieved an Eldritch Wand, a white Illusionist's Robe, and two silver rings. Milam looked over the items, and then he shook his head. "I can't," he responded. "I already have much better equipment with me right now."

"We can see that," Artem replied. "But you can sell these items for food, can you not? Please, take them."

Surprised that they did not care about the prestige of his equipment, Milam nodded and hastily stuffed the equipment away into his backpack. He thanked Artem all the while; although the items were meager, he knew that he could buy at least a couple days' worth ofactual food with them, something that the cleric felt he had been deprived of for a very long time. For an entire month he ate nothing but grains and vegetables, and the health pots were starting to wear on him; he couldn't wait to go and find something delicious at the market.

"You may come back any time," Selena said as Milam prepared to leave. "We don't mind if you end up becoming very reliant on us."

The cleric thanked them once again, though not without slight hesitation. He was, first of all, rather surprised by the hastiness of the charity's services. Milam thought he would have to sign contracts; perhaps the manager needed information about his current economic condition and the status of his health before they were willing to give him any gear. After all, with services as lax as theirs, a veteran could walk right into the building dressed as a priest in rags and demand for equipment, and he or she would be given everything they wanted without question. Although perhaps he did look a bit thin and malnourished; it had been a long time since Milam had had a proper meal. He thought that maybe Artem had dealt with many people like him before, and he would know exactly when someone was really in need of help or not.

But Milam had also been slightly disturbed by what Selena had said. _We don't mind if you end up becoming very reliant on us._ It felt a bit strange — or, rather, stranger than before — for her to say something like that. Nevertheless, he decided to calm his doubts, feeling that he shouldn't question kindness — especially not in a situation as poor as his, for he sorely needed their charity. "Thank you all very much," Milam said, trying to sound as generous as possible, before turning around to leave the room.

* * *

Later that day the cleric had made towards the market. Dale's port, being located upon the coast, was obviously abundant in seafood; much of it was fish — salmon, bass, carp, tuna, and catfish were the most popular — but there were also small squids, shrimp, crabs, lobsters, eels, and even lamprey available as well. He had always found quite surprising the similarities in the food of the Realm to those (that he remembered) of the world that he came from. For a long time Milam had not eaten meat, and he thought that he would buy something big to feast on tonight. Thus he made his way to the vendors at the center of the town square, where usually the most expensive products were sold.

Already a large crowd was gathered there; most people shopped early so that the products that they bought were fresh to eat for the day. Milam made his way onto the beach and towards a cluster of vendors who had large fish lined up for purchase. As he inspected each one of them, a distinguished face suddenly popped into view. Milam turned around and was surprised to find a familiar figure standing behind him.

"What are you doing here?" The cleric shouted enthusiastically before waving 'hello' to the person standing nearby. It was Liwen, an associate of his that Milam had met back at the town of Nexus. Unlike most other people in the Realm, Liwen did not do any hunting at all — or even any fighting. He was an innate sorcerer, but had no real interest in going out into the Realm and killing monsters with his spells. Rather Liwen seemed a researcher of some sorts who experimented upon various natural phenomena in the Realm; he was not really a scientist, though, seeing as how 'science' was quite inapplicable in a world where magic existed.

"I moved in an old house here just a week ago," the boy responded. Liwen was about a year younger than Milam; he had dark brown hair and eyes, with a high forehead and cheeks that gave him somewhat of a conceited appearance, and usually wore his typical gray or red sorcerer's cloak. "Some rich veterans are willing to pay me to study the nature of magic in the Realm. It's quite a fascinating job once you get into the details of it."

Milam nodded. That was typical of Liwen; he found no interest in slaying monsters and preferred a quiet life on the home front.

"By the way, you look famished," the sorcerer continued. At this Milam thought to himself: _Maybe I do appear rather starved. Perhaps that's why the people at the charity were so willing to lend me help…_

"I'd be fine off by myself," Milam responded. "But I have my younger cousin to take care of. He's too weak to hold a weapon, and has no interest in doing any hunting at all." The cleric proceeded forward in line until he finally arrived in front of the vendor. There, he began looking over what he could buy.

"You can't just dump him, can you?"

"That'd be inhumane." A couple yellowfin tuna looked delicious, but he also wanted to try crab or lobster and various other delicacies that were too expensive for him to purchase. "Fortunately, I just got some gear off the local charity. I can actually afford to buy some decent food for dinner today."

"You know how things worked when people first arrived into the Realm?" Liwen asked. "They'd hunt monsters, and eat them for dinner each day. Imagine that! The warriors of old would roast a Medusa tail over a pot of fire, or make stew with the meat of lizard gods…"

 _Good thing I'm not in that kind of situation,_ Milam thought to himself. _Come to think of it, I am fortunate enough to have woken up into a more civilized sort of Realm…_

"If you're really that hungry, then you should have checked out the charity sooner," Liwen said in a somewhat sarcastic tone of voice. "Wouldn't want your little cousin to starve, either."

"Shut up," Milam snapped in response. He finally decided to purchase the yellowfin fish, which cost him his Eldritch Wand. The cleric still had some gear left, but he decided to save it and spend it on something else later.

"Or, if you think you're strong enough, you can try answering to some of the hunts," Liwen continued.

There came a point when people in the Realm were rich enough that they would host petitions, or hunts as the majority of the public called them, to go and slay certain monsters out in the wilderness. Usually these were more powerful monsters, and large rewards were given to the best of hunters for clearing out the strongest fiends that plagued the travelers of the Realm.

Though I'm poor, I'm not exactly inexperienced in the field of battle. Maybe I should try it out…but that would require me to go out on a journey again…

Liwen opened up his backpack and brought out several folded sheets of paper. He gave one of them to Milam and smiled sheepishly.

"I get some extra gear by handing out petitions to people. Why don't you try this one out? It's quite close to the town, so you won't have to leave your house and your cousin behind for too long."

Milam scrutinized the poster carefully.

 **Petition:** ** _The Marilith_**

 _I'm not sure what this thing is. It looks like a really giant teapot, but I'm guessing it's actually some sort of a fat snake or serpent. It's been hanging out near the coast of Dale's Port lately, terrorizing lots of travelers who are coming to the town from the highlands. Won't anyone slay the Marilith for me? Bring the head of the creature to 3246 Carron Street to claim your prize._

 _Reward: 1 Ravenheart Sword, 2 pink pots_

"Near the coasts of Dale's Port? I could get there and back in less than a day. The trouble would be actually finding and slaying the creature, though…"

"If the thing's notorious enough to have a reputation for 'terrorizing travelers', you probably won't have much trouble finding it," Liwen responded. "As for the second part of the deal, well, that's your own problem."

Milam took a few seconds to read over the poster again. "This isn't a scam, is it?" It actually sounds like a rather good opportunity for me to test myself and to become a bit richer. I don't want my hunting skills to have gotten rusty over the past month…

"There's a center for the making and distribution of Wanted Posters in this town, you know. If you get scammed, simply report the petitioner to that center, and then you can sue for your prize."

The cleric nodded. "Hey, can I keep the poster for a sec, then?"

"Sure. Now, give it back," Liwen replied sarcastically.

Milam gave the sorcerer an unpleasant stare. "You know what I mean," he said. "I'd like to give this hunt a try, at least."

Liwen shrugged. "Of course you can keep it."

The vendor had dropped the yellowfish tuna into a sack and given it to the cleric after he exchanged the Eldritch Wand. _I was thinking about buying more than just food from the market today,_ Milam thought to himself. _There's nothing ever to do around the house, and I need to find something for Kirie to do if he wants to make himself useful._ He didn't yet know what he could buy — perhaps a game set, or maybe even a musical instrument —but he dreaded thinking of going home without something to please his little cousin. Being his only family-bound companion in the entirety of the Realm, Milam felt a certain devotion to Kirie, even if the boy cost him his freedom and what possible wealth he could've accumulated if he had gone on a long-term journey.

 _Well, Kirie knows that he's quite useless to me. That's why he's so afraid of the fact that I might leave him one day._

"I'll go check this hunt out," Milam said at last. "Liwen, would you mind doing me a favour?"

"Yes?"

"Bring this fish over to my house and cook it as dinner for my cousin. His name's Kirie, by the way, and I live on 2133 Acres Crescent. That is, if you're not busy today, of course."

Liwen shrugged. "I don't have much else to do, anyways. Kirie won't be surprised to find a stranger entering his house, would he?"

"No. He's quite well-behaved."

With that, the two of them parted ways, Milam heading towards the northern exit of the town near the coastline — eager to be upon his first journey again in a long time. Even if it did turn out later to be rather short.


	2. ROTMG SEQUEL:NOVEL II

**RotMG Sequel: Chapter II**

 **Warning: This story contains adult content.**

In the early afternoon Milam had left the northerly city gates behind and was well on his journey towards the coasts, where lay the mark of his hunt. The region around Dale's Port was largely mountainous due to its close proximity to the highlands, with few forests; for miles on end there were lush green hills and grassy meadows dotted with a wide variety of colourful wildflowers. Today there were a few clouds up in the sky, and a cool breeze carrying the ocean's salty scents blew in from the south; the cleric had no need to fear of rain, however, for it never rained in the Realm — that was, except on the few occasions when Oryx became angry enough to unleash his wrath upon the humans of his world.

Now the hills seemed to bank to the west, sloping ever so slightly downwards in the direction of the nearby ocean; once the city of Dale's Port was out of sight Milam found that he was only about a mile or two away from reaching his destination. By that time it was nearing dusk, and he had traveled for just under three hours. Since then it did not take him very long to leave behind the sprawling expanse of hills that bordered the edge of the highlands; he had arrived at a small river which curved and bent its way towards the sea. The river came from the distant mountains to the east - probably a branch-off from one of the many lakes that lay at the base of the valleys surrounding the great cataract. He would follow westwards until he reached the beaches; along the way he would have to cross a few sloping plains. At least there the terrain was easier to travel upon than the hills.

For a while Milam felt that his burdens had been eased — the task of traveling seemed to instill within him a busy mindset, so that he did not have the mood to think about his worries. That was one thing that he felt long-term journeys offered which the city did not: solitude. The cleric thought that perhaps being alone out in the wilderness should have prompted him to think more instead of less, and that was indeed true if he was traveling for a very long time — but not today. He knew that his journey (if he survived it that is) would last at most until the next morning. All he needed to do was find the Marilith that terrorized travelers out upon the hill, kill it, and then return back to the town to claim his prize. It was a simple task, and once he was done he would return back to his old life living in the city: boring, but secure.

So instead of mulling over all his concerns, Milam tried instead to make the best out of the time that he had to himself — time alone to simply enjoy what was, and not what will be. For some reason, nature seemed to have that peculiar effect upon him. The cleric was particularly attuned to vastness, which the Realm handily offered - though he had a feeling that this world was actually much smaller than the one that he came from; but he did not really care. After spending an entire month living in a town, Milam felt that his freedom had become extremely limited. His return to nature thus lifted his spirits a bit, though he knew intrinsically that this sort of bliss was fleeting. For one, he was still bound to the city by his younger cousin, who needed to be in his care; secondly, if he spent too much time going on a journey, he would begin to miss the comforts of his home and long to return back to civilization.

Now it was late in the afternoon, and the sun — which had become a dark red disc — cast shades of maroon and orange across the dusk sky. By then Milam had reached the beach; the coasts near Dale's Port actually became hillier the farther north one went. The cleric had already gone quite a distance northwards, and now he was at a region where the sandy beaches were divided by large mountains that formed tall rocky cliffs. On the west side was the beach, with its clear white shores that were famous for their noonday sparkle — the place was, in fact, quite a popular tourist location for some of the richer people in the Realm. On the east side, beyond the divide formed by the stone mountains, were lush and hilly green plains; they sloped up onto the edges of the cliffs and from that vantage point, one could look out and see the vast oceans beyond.

It was rejuvenating to feel, as he walked along the beach, the cool ocean foam hitting his face; the evening breeze was still quite warm, and he was exposed to the refreshing euphony of the tides drifting back and forth. Milam liked the dull roar of the waves for their very monotony — their ceaselessness seemed to work very well in distracting him from his thoughts. The cleric felt a sense of calm and tranquility drift over his mind as he walked, and for a while he did nothing but feel and listen. He looked towards the west to observe the slow setting of the sun as it descended beyond the horizon, and the reddish glow in the dusk sky became replaced by purple, then dark blue. After a while he decided that he had come to his destination —or at least, he was close enough — and he decided to sit down and wait for his mark. But more than that he wanted to embrace the moment; he knew that it could be a very long time before he could feel at such peace again. Milam walked up a small hill and sat down upon an outcropping of rock that overlooked the gushing tides below.

 _But then again, why does it have to be?_ Milam thought to himself. _This place isn't so far from Dale's Port. I could walk here in a matter of hours…maybe next time I'll bring Kirie along with me as well. We'll have a nice walk together along the beach…it would feel very relaxing and refreshing after spending so much time in the city…_

It was interesting watching the tides below. For a while he was fascinated by the waves that drifted back and forth, and the sound that they produced when they crashed against the rocks that lay on the beach. To him, there was something mentally absorbing about observing the malleability of water. Every day he was exposed to it, but only in small amounts — perhaps in a small glass, or in a pot or maybe a bowl of soup. In large quantities the same old water seemed to take on a whole new life. It seemed to hunger, like a mad and starving beast dashing itself against solid surface over and over again in an attempt to grasp at something; over time it would claw away at its obstacles, rock would be eroded — in a thousand years the force of water would take down entire hills and mountains. All the while it was still the same individually; on the molecular level, hydrogen and oxygen atoms connected to each other by bonding and powerful intermolecular forces. But the observer only saw massive waves striking itself against the beach, vanishing into tiny white foam, made of yet smaller things beyond the reach of the human eye.

Why was that significant? Why did that matter in the Realm, a world of magic, at all?

Milam thought this world was quite new. After all, it must've only been a couple of decades since humans first arrived into the Realm; he was quite amazed, in fact, that civilization had already been established so quickly. Although destructive, humans were a surprisingly resourceful race — but that was beside the point. He wondered how the Realm was like before humans came into the world. Was it just vast and expansive wilderness, home to a legion of monsters, a testament to the infinity of Oryx's domain? And what was beyond the ocean? Did the Realm even exist at all before people arrived? Now he thought, as he stared at the ocean, how the waves — beyond anything else — were a cyclic phenomenon. He knew that, even if all the humans and monsters were gone, the tides would remain as they were, constantly being pulled back and forth, resistant to change. They had drifted since the beginning of this world, and they would continue to drift, undisturbed by all the things that would happen around them, oblivious of the troubles or the joys of the world. Perhaps that was what was so special about the waves. It transcended time, a living memory of things long past. Water was a source of all life, a necessity for all creation, and yet, in such large quantities as the ocean, a force destructive beyond comprehension.

* * *

In his mind's eye, after he had dozed off, Milam seemed to recall one of the many scenes that had occurred during the long and tiresome days of the past month. His memories were vague, and everything he saw seemed to be shrouded in a misty gray. However, he did not really feel uncomfortable in his dreams. They were somewhat pleasant, a reprieve from his daily responsibilities and worries, and now they were enhanced all the more by the soft drifting of the waves that had lulled him to sleep.

Unlike him, Kirie was full of energy and seemed to be optimistic each day. They were now in the living room of his house, and Kirie was bouncing around on a couch while Milam sat in a chair in the corner. He had his hands over his eyes, and the cleric seemed to be trying to fall asleep. Great — a dream about falling asleep — how awkward was that? But it was high noon and Milam had just woken up a couple of hours ago, so there was no reason for him to feel drowsy. Back then every day was, to him, a plan. He secretly wanted to go out on a journey again, to get rid of his cousin so that he could reclaim his freedom. Milam remembered the early days of the Realm, when he journeyed across the lands in large groups and fought hordes of monsters alongside veterans; how he explored dungeons and the secret areas of the world, and claimed pots and powerful equipment from the spoils of battle; back then, every moment seemed to pass by without worry.

Milam did not mind the harsh nature of the Realm, unlike most people. He was somewhat of a loner at heart; at all times he accepted the circumstances that were presented to him, and he was willing to fight through any ordeal.

Kirie was surprisingly mature for his age. Except for the one time when he came to Milam, begging for the cleric to take him in, the boy knew exactly when his older cousin wanted or did not want to be bothered. In this case he did not want to disturb Milam's nap (or at least the cleric's attempt to), and so he played by himself. But after a while Milam decided that it was useless to continue to try and fall asleep, and that he should go planning instead. He thought about the possibilities of him going upon another journey, of what he could do and how he could reclaim his freedom. The thought of leaving his younger cousin behind, however, left a bitter taste in his mouth. There was something peculiar about Kirie that kept him attached to the boy. Perhaps it was because Milam wanted, like most other people in the Realm, something that originated from his past life before he came into this world — someone that was familiar to him and could share in his pains. There was also Kirie's mature optimism, and his general resilience to the enduring things that they had to struggle through — ordeals such as hunger and poverty.

That was one strange thing about the boy. Even as Milam stood up, groaning and complaining of the boredom, Kirie would stand in a corner and smile cheerfully at him. The cleric had thought of several reasons to explain his attachment to his younger cousin. Perhaps the boy's optimistic attitude was to try and convince Milam that, despite their situation, he was not willing to let him down. There was, indeed, a sort of cautious thankfulness in the way Kirie approached his older cousin; without Milam to protect and shelter him the boy would've been dead long ago. Thus Milam knew that there was no way he could ever abandon his cousin; it would be horrible to let Kirie down like that. There was also the fact that Milam felt that, without his memories, he was missing a part of himself. For most people their identities were formed by their memories, and what Kirie was to Milam was perhaps one last part of his past that remained; a part of him that he refused to, and could never let go.

On that day he had been so bored that he suggested going out to buy something that could keep him busy, such as perhaps a game set, art tools, or a musical instrument. In the last fading moments of his dream Milam seemed to recall a certain tune that rang in his head and resonated a certain emotion that he felt he had been lacking ever since he entered the Realm. Whatever it was, it seemed to overpower him — the melody made him feel softer and almost sadder. But before he could remember the song entirely, the dream faded away.

* * *

Milam awoke to feeling a sense of immense urgency; he hardly realized that he had fallen asleep, and his awakening was due to an ominous rattling sound that came from nearby. Looking up at the night sky he saw that the moon was shrouded behind thick gray clouds and hardly a single star was visible.

He suddenly saw something at the edge of his vision — a quick red blur of movement — and the cleric spun around to defend himself. Milam saw sharp teeth and a hissing sound; whatever attacked him had immediately retreated. Instantly he recognized what it was: the creature was the Marilith, the very hunt that he was after on this journey. The cleric raised his wand up into the air and unleashed a bolt of magic towards the creature, but the snake had already darted out of the way and the magical blast struck the floor, lighting the tips of a few blades of grass on fire.

"You bastard!"

Having spent over six months in the Realm, Milam was certainly not inexperienced in battle, and at that moment he felt a rush of adrenaline surge through him as he again entered a field of danger, a dimension where his life was at stake. In this intense but familiar zone only one of two things could happen: he lived, or he died. The snake shot through the grass faster than his eyes could follow, and it quickly ambushed him from behind, rising up to its full height before lashing out with its yellow fangs at Milam's head.

The cleric ducked just in time to avoid the full impact of the snake's blow, but the creature had struck him regardless and he fell rolling to the floor. Before the monster could attack again, Milam jumped onto his feet and summoned up a surge of energy to retaliate against his opponent. He stepped forward, and the tips of his shadow wand became engulfed in a field of dark lightning; the snake retreated to a safer distance and hissed at its target. Then Milam unleashed his spell, and a ball of powerful energies shot towards the Marilith. There came a sound like a very demented shrieking, and then he saw the snake slither away with smoke rising from the tips of its tail.

"Come back here!"

Though he was a cleric, Milam was well-trained in the art of casting offensive spells. The fact that his wand used dark magic as its catalyst for damage helped immensely in this such aspect. He knew how to conjure up fireballs and lightning bolts, as well as honing in fields of energy around himself; Milam was also extremely good at concentration, and thus his accuracy was supreme. All this gave him a fair advantage against his opponent, and now the cleric found himself chasing after the snake. The Marilith darted along the coasts of the beach, weaving its way in and out between rocks; it made for a cave, or at least one of the shallower lagoons that lay in the pools beneath tall cliff.

Unfortunately Milam was not as fast as his enemy, and he found himself lagging behind as the snake nearly darted out of sight. A cool breeze blew through the night air, and the cleric felt the perspiration that had accumulated upon his body from fighting and running; he began to slow down and try and think of another tactic. The waves on the shore also helped in calming him down even farther. Once he could finally think clearly to himself, the cleric sat down upon the sand and looked out across the sea. There was no point in chasing after the Marilith now; the creature had probably hidden itself inside some small hole or cave. He could only wait, and make himself seem harmless, in order to lure the thing out again.

As he watched the ocean waves roll back and forth under the dim light of the shrouded moon, Milam began to somehow recall the tune that had ran through his head when he was dreaming. It seemed to evoke feelings of nostalgia within him — an odd thing to feel in his current situation — and soon he was consumed by an odd emotion that rang with a bittersweet sort of joy. It was like remembering childhood happiness: pleasant and soothing, and yet the emotion also contained feelings of heartache, as if recalling memories of cheerier and less worrisome days. He did not understand why, but at that moment, Milam suddenly felt a longing to go back home, to go and see Kirie and check if the boy was alright. He also wanted to see Liwen, who he felt indebted to after asking him to take care of his cousin.

At that moment the cleric saw another flash of movement at the corner of his eye, followed by a harsh and raspy hissing, and he was quickly interrupted out of his thoughts. Milam jumped to his feet and followed after the noise; he found himself, moments later, standing at the base of a small cliff that was surrounded by tall walls of rock. There was a little cave in front of him — it looked more like a pit or a hole — and Milam was immediately reminded of the time when he had crawled into the pit of demons with Sven the priest to look for treasure. The cleric stepped forward and fired off a shot into the darkness; the raspy hissing continued, and he knew that he was being baited. The Marilith was slightly intelligent — it would not come out of its hole, and would rather fight in places where its opponent was at a disadvantage due to the darkness.

Milam would not have that, however. He would not allow himself to fall so easily into the fiend's little trap.

The cleric stepped forward and, summoning up all his energy, shot a massive fireball into the cave. An instant later there was an explosion, and the fire illuminated the entire cave for about one second — just enough time for him to discern the snake's approximate location. But to his surprise the light inside the cave remained, and diminished only a little after the fireball was gone; almost everything within the hole was still visible. Milam was perplexed by this effect; he looked into the cave and saw the Marilith lying all coiled up in a corner and poised to strike at a moment's notice. Hanging above the creature were what appeared to be diamond-shaped crystals, and they gave off a strange greenish light. The light radiated throughout the cave in the form of a yellowish mist, and this allowed the cleric to see just about everything inside.

 _Those crystals…are they magic!? Were they fueled by my fireball or something?_

The Marilith, realizing now how exposed it was, hurled itself forward in one final desperate attempt to slay its opponent. Milam sidestepped out of the way and let the creature fall into the sand; he was about to retaliate with a spell when he saw, to his surprise, a bolt of fire suddenly blasting out of the creature's mouth. The cleric was struck square in the chest by the snake's magical attack, and he fell backwards. The Marilith then rose up to its full height again, preparing to inflict the finishing blow upon its target.

"No!"

Milam rolled out of the way just in time to avoid the full brunt of the creature's attack, but the Marilith was still able to sink its teeth into his shoulder. The cleric shrieked in pain, and then he jumped hastily to his feet while the snake recoiled. He saw a strange sort of gleam within the creature's eyes, the beaming delight of a predator as it knew that it was about to finish off its prey. The Marilith hissed, and then it launched itself at Milam once more.

This attack would be its last.

At just the right moment Milam stuck his wand forward and the creature was unfortunate enough to sink its teeth straight into the cleric's weapon, missing the tips of his fingers by less than an inch. A blast of dark lightning shot forward, and the Marilith literally exploded as the magical energy ripped its body into pieces. Milam backed away as he saw, seconds later, the steaming pile of flesh that was the remains of the snake's head fall limply onto the floor.

Milam was panting heavily after the battle, and he laid a hand upon his shoulder where blood gushed out of his wound. He hoped that the snake had not been poisonous; fortunately, most things in the Realm were not. But the cleric had been surprised by the fact that the Marilith could, for some reason, _use magic_. He felt that perhaps it had something to do with the hole that it had been hiding in. Looking towards the cave, Milam saw that the emerald crystals were still shining brightly; they also continued to radiate a swirling yellow mist around themselves.

Out of curiosity, and against the better part of his judgment, Milam stepped forward into the cave.

The first thing that he noticed was just how cold the inside of the cave was in comparison to the outside. The cleric felt a strange chill descend over his body — not a particularly uncomfortable chill, moreso a tranquil one — and the sensation made his skin feel as it was being pricked by invisible needles. He also thought that he heard strange noises within his head: bizarre little pitches and rings that sounded somewhat like an amplified bell. Milam stepped forward and felt the feeling of entering a very expansive place, despite the fact that the cave was extremely small. It was a sensation similar to flying - of drifting and gliding over clouds high up in the sky.

There was one crystal that lay shattered upon the ground; it still illuminated a peculiar green glow, but the mist around it was gone. The cleric knelt down and brought the crystal into his hands; it felt no different than any ordinary rock. Still, he was quite perplexed by the phenomenon of their illumination inside the cave, and he thought he would investigate it further. But at the moment, common sense and rational thinking suddenly returned to him, and Milam realized that he was still bleeding from his wound. The cleric quickly took out his tome, cast a healing spell, and turned around to leave the place.

As Milam stepped out into the open a gush of hot air struck him, and he realized that it was actually a lot colder inside the cave for some odd reason. The clouds had already parted from the skies, and the moon shone brightly out upon the ocean, where the black waves continued their eternal drifting. He stepped out onto the sandy shores and looked into the distance — this time, southwards, back to the city of Dale's Port where his destination now lay. His hunt was over, and now he would return home


	3. ROTMG SEQUEL:NOVEL III

RotMG Sequel: Chapter III

 **Warning: This story contains adult content.**

Milam had journeyed throughout the night, walking restlessly back across the beach and the plains; by the time the city of Dale's Port came into view, he was in a daze much like that of a sleepwalker's. The cleric climbed up a small hill that overlooked the town, and he immediately snapped out of his drowsiness when he saw what lay below; the front gate of the city was in ruins.

He looked up at the sky and thought that he saw several large birds flying over the town. Upon closer inspection, however, Milam realized — to his horror — that they were actually Gods (or at least the ones that could fly). Instantly the cleric charged down the hill, racing as fast as he could back to the city to see what was going on. He hoped that the worst had not happened — he would be damned if Gods decided to attack and kill his younger cousin on the one day that he was gone.

About five minutes later Milam arrived, panting and gasping, at the front gate of the city — or what remained of it. The place was in shambles. Crumbling stone blocks littered his path, and large boulders blocked any viable entrance into the town. _The only way that I'm going to get in,_ the cleric thought, _is to blast some of this debris out of my way._ Milam stepped forward and raised his wand up into the air in preparation for a spell. At that moment, however, he suddenly heard a low growling come from nearby, and the cleric spun around to find a White Demon approaching him.

The creature looked somewhat similar to a dragon, for it had large white wings and scaly gray skin; however the monster also appeared to be bipedal, standing upright rather than crouching down upon all fours. The White demon bared its yellow fangs before spreading its wings and charging forward at Milam in what appeared to be a pre-flight sprint. Quickly the cleric turned around and blasted the creature's face with a stream of dark lightning. The monster howled in pain, although it did not stop its attack; Milam tried to sidestep out of the way but found a large claw digging painfully into his arm, and he tumbled to the floor.

The demon swerved around and then spread its wings, leaping into the air. Milam turned around and saw that it was about to blast him with a ball of white magic, but before the creature could do anything a dozen arrows suddenly sailed forth from the castle walls and struck the monster through its chest. The White Demon groaned in pain, and it quickly halted its attack; Milam took advantage of this moment and leaped to his feet, summoning up all the energy within him into a concentrated spell. A second later the White Demon roared, and then it unleashed a mass of boiling white energy towards the cleric. In response Milam fired off a bolt of flame, which flew through the air as fast as lightning; the fireball incinerated the White Demon's attacks as it flew past them, turning the spheres of white magic into dust. There came a loud explosion; a moment later the ashes of the monster fell like dried swirling leaves to the floor.

Once the battle was over Milam turned around to try and find a way through the ruins of the front gate into the city. He thought that he needed a very strong spell; specifically something explosive that would send the rocks scattering everywhere, leaving the entrance into the town bare. The problem with this, however, was that he might accidentally hit and kill someone standing behind the city walls with the force of the blast; if not that, the massive flying rocks also posed a considerable danger. Furthermore, he needed an extremely strong spell to do the trick, and in his current fatigued state of mind Milam did not feel up for the job.

As the cleric began to consider alternatives to his plan, he suddenly heard something loud erupt from within the city. There came a resonance like the rumble of thunder, and then he saw a massive bolt of lightning strike somewhere directly behind the front gate. The sound was so loud that Milam had to back away, and he threw his hands upon his ears; seconds later there came multiple agonizing shrieks, and the cleric recognized them as the wail of monsters. A medusa's painful hiss; a Ghost God's sorrowful wail; a Beholder's moan; a Djinn's terrible cry, an Ent's high-pitched lament; and then the bolt of lightning struck again. This time the gate blew open and a dozen Gods flew through it — they had been blasted by an immensely powerful spell, and there came the cheering of humans. Milam saw later that they were an assembly of wizards — amongst them the elderly Artem.

Milam rushed towards them, but the wizards had already left. Everyone inside the town was cheering; they had probably just driven the last of the Gods out of the city. The cleric climbed over the now-open ruins of the front gate, and saw — much to his relief — that almost all of the streets and buildings within Dale's Port still remained intact. Milam sighed contentedly — he felt less worried after realizing that most of the town had been spared the destruction of the Gods' assault. The cleric turned around and made his way towards a nearby group of archers to thank them — they had just saved his life earlier during his battle with the White Demon. He would have to go and thank the wizards as well, especially Artem, for clearing a way through the debris so that he could enter the town.

The cleric had not yet been completely relieved of his worries, however; he still needed to make sure that Liwen and Kirie were alright. After thanking the archers, he began making his way towards his house to go and find his younger cousin. Or, at least, he tried to — after taking a few steps forward Milam suddenly collapsed to the floor. He felt his arms and legs go limp, and fatigue made his body feel as if it was made of jelly — he was completely exhausted. Milam then realized just how tired he was — at the current, he was in no state of mind or physical strength to go anywhere. Despite this, the cleric still tried, with all his strength, to get back up. He felt that he could not allow himself to rest until he made sure that Kirie was alright - Milam would not forgive himself if he had allowed his carelessly timed journey to let something bad happen to his younger cousin, especially if it resulted in the boy's death. He dreaded to think of what he would do if that happened; Milam tried to purge the thought from his mind.

"Hey, there! I think you dropped something."

Milam turned around and saw an archer walking towards him with a small brown bag. He recognized it immediately as the fangs of the Marilith that he had slain the previous night — the cleric had collected them as a trophy, to prove to the petitioner of the hunt that he had completed his task. Inside was also the magical rock that he had found from the cave; the ones that illuminated the peculiar green light when he blasted the cave with a fireball.

"Oh, thanks," Milam said. He tried to get up to take the bag but found that his body was too stiff; he had absolutely no energy left in him to do anything.

"Do you need help?" The archer asked as he stood over the cleric.

Milam shook. "No…I just need to get some rest." He nearly dozed off right at that moment as he blinked, but the sheer force of will and determination within him kept the cleric awake.

"Not in the middle of the street, though," the archer replied. "I should go and take you somewhere."

Milam nodded. "My house is on 2133 Acres Crescent…by the way, that bag you have in your hands contains something important." He decided to spill it out right away: "It's a trophy from a hunt that I had completed just last night. Will you take me to the petitioner's house?"

"Well, where is it?"

"3246 Carron Street…that should lie on the way to my house. Will you take me there for just a few minutes?"

The archer nodded. "Alright, then. I suppose I'll give you my help."

Milam felt the archer lift him up and place him onto his back. Seconds later, his eyes became extremely heavy and he fell asleep almost immediately.

* * *

A soft and calming tune, familiar and yet unfamiliar at the same time; it perturbed his mind, and yet also cleansed him of his fears and worries. It seemed to get louder and clearer as he came closer to consciousness. The dream that Milam had did not really feature anything in particular; rather it was just that tune, nostalgia in embodiment, playing over and over again inside his head. He wanted to remember what it was - perhaps the melody was a significant part of his memories, a part of his identity that he had lost — but just as Milam thought that he could pin it down, the tune disappeared, and he burst awake.

The cleric opened his eyes to find himself inside a quaint little room. The place was quite large, and it appeared very elegant and stylish; delightful paintings hung up upon the walls of the room — they ranged from pretty little watercolours, to charming impressionist landscapes; to abstract portraits of symbols and designs as well as resplendent scenes of realism. At the corner of the room was a stack of musical instruments — flutes, clarinets, violins, trumpets, and more — that rested upon a small wooden table; a man with light blond hair and blue eyes stood beside it with his shoulder leaning upon the edge of a nearby cupboard. A few seconds later he reached into the cupboard and took out a couple of items as well as a bowl of grapes.

"You hungry?" The man asked as he offered Milam some of the grapes. The cleric refused, but the man insisted that he eat some, saying that at the moment he looked famished.

"Where am I?" Milam asked about a minute later.

The man turned around and smiled. Then he stepped forward and placed two pink pots upon the table; later, he took out a black sword from the cupboard. Milam immediately realized that this was the person who had petitioned the hunt for the Marilith; he could also tell that the man was likely a veteran, judging by the expensive decour of his house.

"I go by many names, for I am well-known throughout the Realm. For now, though, you may call me BMJ. Also, this must be yours." He reached again into the cupboard and took out a small leather bag; from within he retrieved the snake's fangs as well as a luminescent green stone.

Milam stood up and took all of the things that BMJ had placed upon the table, thanking him all the while. "Thanks a lot for giving me these items. I haven't been very well-off lately, you see, so I'll be able to fetch a good price for these pots as well as the sword."

"You should treat yourself to a decent meal," BMJ replied. "Honestly, you look really tired and hungry. When's the last time you had some proper rest or ate some suitable food?"

Milam shrugged. "It's not that bad, really. I can take care of myself just fine." The cleric actually disliked it when people acted exceedingly kindly towards him; he hated being indebted to others and preferred to take care of things by himself. He folded his arms and tried to look away from BMJ's sympathetic gaze; Milam found himself absentmindedly turning his attention towards the musical instruments that lay upon the table at the corner of the room.

"I hope you fare well on your journeys in the future, then," BMJ said.

Milam nodded and thanked the man again; a few seconds later he walked towards the table and stood observing the woodwinds.

 _Now, that tune in my head…is it better played with a flute or a clarinet?_

"Hey, you want to buy one of those?" BMJ asked. "I own an instruments shop in Nexus, you know. Music and art are quite popular amongst the rich folk of the Realm these days."

"Well, I'm not rich at all, unfortunately," Milam replied. "I don't think I have the gear to buy _anything_ that you own in this house."

"Nonsense! Don't think so lowly of yourself. Since you helped slay the Marilith for me, I think I'll give you a large discount. Which instrument are you interested in purchasing?"

The cleric's face instantly brightened. _Finally! Something that I can bring back home for Kirie!_ He looked over the instruments and finally pointed towards the flute. _That melody in my head sounds really soft and calm…I think a nice, mellow little woodwind would suit the song quite nicely._ "What's the price on the flute?"

"I have literally a thousand of them, so they're not expensive at all. You can buy one for just a single stat pot. Why not use one of the attack pots that I just gave you?"

Milam nodded, and he picked up one of the flutes. It was long, shiny, and silver in colour and contained a very elegant design that he thought would make the player look extremely sophisticated. The cleric stepped forward and handed one pink pot back to BMJ, who accepted it gratefully.

"Thanks a lot for allowing me to make this purchase," Milam said as he prepared to leave. The cleric checked to make sure that all his stuff was still with him; that included his backpack, his gear, as well as his trophy bag, and then he said a final "thank you" as well as a "goodbye" to BMJ as he headed out the door.

He wasn't exactly sure how long he had slept, but judging from the fact that the sun was still high up in the skies, Milam thought it must be around noon at the moment. The cleric quickly made his way towards his house, and was relieved to find Kirie and Liwen standing there at the front garden waiting for him when he arrived there.

"Hey, Kirie! I'm back!" Milam shouted to his cousin as he stepped towards his house. Kirie looked at him and smiled excitedly; to his dismay, the cleric noticed that there was a bloodied cut upon the boy's forehead, hidden behind long strands of black hair. Milam rushed towards his cousin to make sure that he was alright - fortunately the cut was not too deep, and it seemed to have already stopped bleeding. However, Kirie did wince as Milam ran a finger lightly over the wound. A second later Milam took out his tome and began chanting a spell to heal the cut.

"Bad time to go on a journey, now, wasn't it?" Liwen asked in an almost mocking tone. "I suppose, in a way, it was my fault. Now, why do you have a flute there with you?"

"Don't rub it in," Milam answered. "As for the flute, it's a present for Kirie."

Once he was done healing the cut upon Kirie's forehead, Milam handed the flute over to his cousin. There was initially a look of astonishment upon the boy's face, but it quickly disappeared and was replaced soon after with immense gratitude. Kirie took a step backwards and smiled shyly at Milam, before pushing the flute away and handing it back modestly to his older cousin. But the cleric simply shook his head and said, "No, keep the flute: it's yours. I don't have the time to learn how to play a new instrument, so it'd be useless in my hands anyways."

"You had to buy this from somebody, didn't you?" Kirie asked. "In that case, it should be yours."

 _Damn it, Kirie. Why do you have to act so mature all the time? Be a kid for once and just accept my present!_

Milam thought that perhaps Kirie was just trying to show how grateful he was that his older cousin would take him in despite his uselessness; it was in fact actually a rare thing to see in the Realm an experienced person willingly devote time and effort into helping somewhat weaker and poorer. _I think I know that feeling…_ Milam thought to himself. _It's the feeling that you're indebted to someone. As young as he is, I think Kirie understands — to a certain extent — that I had to sacrifice a lot to take him in. So he's already happy and really doesn't want anything more from me._

"How did you get that flute anyways?" Liwen asked curiously.

 _Now, doesn't he have an interesting habit of looking into other peoples' business?_

"I was successful in completing the hunt, you know," Milam replied. "The person who petitioned the monster was a rich veteran who apparently sells musical instruments. He gave me a discount, so I was able to buy this flute quite easily off him."

"Still, it's yours," Kirie insisted as he backed away even farther from Milam. "I don't think I can accept any more things from you. By the way, the fish that you bought last night was quite good." He looked towards Liwen and gave a slight smile to the gray-robed sorcerer. "Your friend here is a really good cook."

 _Liwen, a good cook!? Now, I definitely hadn't expected that…_

"Thanks a lot for cooking dinner for my cousin," Milam said to Liwen; he then turned and sighed towards Kirie. "Don't be so modest. Really, I'd be happier if you'd just take the things that I buy for you rather than reject them. You don't owe me anything."

"But I do!" Kirie responded persistently. "I'm grateful for everything you've done for me."

Liwen folded his arms; there was an amused look upon his face. "You're just wasting time arguing it further, Milam. If neither of you want the flute, then why don't you just sell it?"

Milam turned around and gave Liwen a cold glare. "It's a present," the cleric responded with a slight tone of annoyance in his voice. "I'll leave it around the house if Kirie doesn't want to take it."

 _Still; he's right — we're not getting anywhere by arguing over this flute._ Seeing no point in continuing the conversation any further, Milam headed into his house and sat down upon one of the chairs in the living room; the others followed suit.

"Hey, Liwen," Milam said as he reached for his leather pouch, "I actually found something interesting on my journey while hunting the Marilith."

"Well, what is it?"

The cleric reached into his bag and fished out a big glowing green rock. The light had diminished a bit since he last saw the stone, but it was still clearly visible to the nearby observer.

"Wow, why does it glow?" Kirie asked.

"That's exactly what I'm wondering." Milam turned to Liwen and nodded his head, as if to ask for the other boy's opinion.

"Now, isn't that a neat and interesting little object?" Liwen asked as he stood up and looked closely at the rock. For a few seconds, the room was silent, and none of them said anything; all the while Liwen continued to stare intently at the stone that was in the cleric's hands. Finally Liwen broke the silence by turning around and suddenly heading for the door.

"Hey, where are you going!?"

"I'll be back in about an hour or so," Liwen replied, before heading out the door. A second awkward silence fell upon the room.

* * *

In the meantime Milam had explained to Kirie all about what occurred on his journey; how he had fought and defeated the Marilith, which nearly killed him because it could use magic; about the caves that were filled with the strange luminescent stones, as well as his battle with the White Demon on his way back to the town. Milam also went into detail about the tune that kept reappearing inside his head, even going so far as to hum it, and then explained that he had bought the flute from BMJ because he wanted either himself or Kirie to learn how to play the song.

In the end it seemed that Kirie had become a little upset, for he realized once more what a burden he was to his older cousin; at the same time the boy also reprimanded Milam a little for involving himself in such dangerous battles.

Upon hearing it, the cleric sighed and rolled his eyes. "You shouldn't worry about me too much," Milam responded. "I can take care of myself just fine. The Marilith was quite easy compared to some of the tougher monsters I had to fight back on my longer journeys."

A few minutes later Liwen returned to Milam's house, and this time he came with a bunch of papers in his hands. The gray-robed boy sat down upon a chair and then placed the papers onto the table at the center of the living room.

"Your 'rock' there seems to fit quite well with my latest line of research," Liwen explained, before picking up a specific paper and handing it to the cleric. "It's an interesting coincidence that you've discovered such a thing now. Why don't you take a look at some of the stuff I've wrote?"

 **Liwen's Notes:**

 **October 17th, Year 45**

 **This section is about the Aether, one of the most mysterious phenomena within the Realm. It occurs at random and affects a radius of region. Further research upon the nature of Aether reveals that it is a wave, much like sound or light, and therefore transfers energy. However, it does contain strange magical properties peculiar only to this Realm.**

 **How the Aether occurs is unknown, but so is magic, and therefore it can be assumed to be a natural phenomenon within the Realm. In most cases, its effects are negligible. It is only during superposition of Aether waves that strange things begin to happen, such as items or even people disappearing into thin air. This is due largely to the effects of interference.**

 **Destructive interference of Aether waves is what causes items to vanish, while constructive interference — which happens far less frequently — is what can cause items to replicate. Yet to be researched, however, is a second effect of constructive interference: the enhancement of metals. Properties of metals can be changed when exposed to the superposition of Aether waves: most notably they begin to exhibit magical characteristics, such as illumination.**

 **The Mithril is one such example. So far I have come across two types of 'Mithril' in the Realm: the Light Mithril and the much rarer Dark Mithril. 'Light' Mithril is formed when silver is exposed to constructive interference of Aether waves, which somehow alters its physical properties by causing the metal to become lighter and sharper. 'Dark' Mithril on the other hand is formed when gold is exposed to constructive interference of Aether waves, and the resulting metal is much, much stronger. It is too rare, however, to be put into good use at the moment; even the almighty 'Mithril Sword' is forged of only a very small concentration of 'Dark Mithril.'**

Milam groaned. _The Aether!? The thing that makes people disappear into thin air? I don't like the idea that I had wandered so close to it…_

"Not just the rocks; but if even the Marilith had gained the ability cast magic, it means that the cave must be full of Aether," Liwen whispered. "I must simply go and check the place out."

The cleric shook his head. "Not me," he responded. "I don't want anything to do with the Aether — especially since it can make things disappear into thin air." He shuddered a bit. "I dread to think what would've happened if I had been foolish enough to stay in the cave for any longer."

"You just don't have the right mind for rational inquiry, do you?" Liwen asked contemptuously. "I might be afraid of the Aether as well, but that doesn't mean I don't want to find out more about it."

"Don't say that," Milam responded. "Maybe if I was a bit richer, like you. Right now, my biggest worry is still on keeping myself alive, and that means I need to get more gear, more equipment."

"It's like being afraid of the dark," Liwen continued as if he was in total ignorance of what Milam had just said. "You're terrified of what you can't see, but you know that there really isn't anything there, and it's just your own fears taking control of you.

Milam shook his head. "I don't think so. The Aether and the 'dark' are two totally different things. For one, the latter doesn't have an assuredchance of swallowing you out of existence."

"Come on!" Liwen begged. "You know that I can't fight or hunt anything by myself. I need you to come with me to the cave so that I can investigate the Aether a bit further."

"But you've been sponsored to do research! You can make gold out of this if your findings go well. What do I get? A little title saying that I 'helped you out?'"

Liwen grumbled a bit, and then he reached into his backpack and pulled out another loose piece of paper. It was another hunt.

 **Petition: 'Night'mare**

 _This terrible monster killed my best friend while we were on our journey to Dale's Port! I shall give a large reward to anybody who can slay this evil creature for me. It's a menace to all the travelers out on the highlands! When you have succeeded, come find me on 814 Northside street to claim your prize._

 _Reward: Eight Vitality pots_

"There. You can become rich if you kill this hunt," Liwen suggested.

Milam stared at the paper in disbelief. "Who does this guy think he is!? Eight red pots for the slaying of a single Nightmare? That can't possibly be true!"

 _In fact…one red pot is enough to buy me a whole week's worth of food; they are considered to be as rare as gold in this Realm._

"Actually, it sounds perfectly rational to me," the gray-robed sorcerer answered in response. "Say, you do know of the incident that happened with the Crystal Prisoner the other day, do you?"

"The what?"

Liwen shook his head and sighed. "The Realm is in dark times. A mysterious crystal materialized in the middle of Godlands just one week ago, and travelers who passed by heard voices begging to be freed from within the crystal."

Milam struck his face with the palm of his hand. "Don't tell me…"

"Human beings are stupid and curious. Remember that army of Gods who attacked our town just this morning? It was the Crystal Prisoner's doing. Ever since it's been freed the monster has been causing trouble all over the highlands as well as the Blue Wood."

 **Well, that explains things.**

"More importantly, it commands a small army of strange horses known as 'Nightmares.' The petitioner only wants one of these horses slain, and I assume that he'll take any one of them…so, you've got a pretty good deal on your hands right now."

Milam thought about it for a moment. Taking on the Nightmares would certainly prove a formidable challenge, but the rewards of the hunt were very tempting. The downside was that the journey would take a lot longer for him to complete — reaching the Blue Wood by itself would take about three days if he kept a steady pace — and he would once again have to leave Kirie at home.

"Are you sure you want to go on another journey? Kirie asked as if in direct response to Milam's thoughts. "I can probably take care of myself while you're gone — the charity is always available. But I don't want you to get hurt or die, either."

The cleric was surprised that Kirie had spoken up; all throughout his conversation with Liwen the boy had remained silent.

"I won't get hurt, I promise," Milam responded. He thought Kirie was about to say something in protest, but rather the boy simply turned his head around and looked away. _I kind of feel sorry for him,_ Milam thought to himself. _Kirie feels grateful to me for taking him in, which is why he doesn't want to make himself a limit to my freedom, but at the same time he also cares a lot about me and doesn't want me to do anything dangerous…_

Milam sighed. _Do I really want to leave Kirie behind in this town by himself again? I'll be gone for about an entire week on this hunt, and I haven't really been on any extended journeys for a rather long time…I might be getting a bit rusty with my skills. Still, the reward is quite tempting…eight vitality pots, if I can get to it, would make my life a lot better for a good period of time. I could buy tons of food as well as things like games and instruments and even art for Kirie and I to play around with at home…it would certainly make this house a lot less boring._

 _Come to think of it, what else is there really to do around the house these days? I do want to take care of Kirie, but I think he'll by fine by himself if he stays at the charity — I mean, he even thinks so himself. Maybe it would be best for me to go on this journey…I think I'll give it a try…_

"I'll go, then," Milam said after he thought about it for a few more seconds.

Liwen nodded. "I'll wait for you to get rich, and then we can talk about my research."

"Don't count on it," Milam replied contemptuously. "Let's wait until I'm actually wealthy before you start getting any ideas."

Liwen stood up and grabbed all his papers as he prepared to leave. "Don't forget who introduced you to all these 'hunts' in the first place," he responded, before heading out the door.

Milam turned towards Kirie. "You'll be fine by yourself for about a week, right?"

The boy nodded, and then the cleric stood up and began packing up his belongings. _Here we go again…time for another journey._


	4. ROTMG SEQUEL:NOVEL IV

**RotMG Sequel: Chapter IV**

 **Warning: This story contains adult content.**

 _Another day…another destination._

Milam stood upon the edge of the cliffs, where the ground below him fell away in a sharp descent towards the ravines below. The sides of the rocky hill were covered in small shrubs and coniferous trees, and they encircled the giant torrent of water that rushed in from nearby streams and rivers. He could feel the spray of the foam against his face, which was chilly and reminiscent of the sensation of stepping into the edges of a faraway rain storm. The skies above him were cloudy that day, though it was currently noon so a mellow golden light was visible through the veil of the shadowy overcast.

He had been on this journey for two days.

The majesty of the Great Cataract was known far and wide throughout the lands. It was located halfway between the town of Dale's Port and the Blue Wood, a vast and circular waterfall that stretched several kilometers wide; the cataract was formed from a convergence of hundreds of streams and rivers that flowed across the Euryon Highlands. There, the water cascaded down a cliff that was almost a kilometer tall and collected into a massive white foaming pool at the bottom; it would then flow out of the valley in a thousand smaller rivers, forming many of the lakes that existed across the highlands, and all of them would eventually drift down towards the ocean to the west.

Milam had stopped at this landmark on his way to the Blue Wood; the cataract was a popular gathering place for many travelers that needed a group or a few partners to follow them on a journey. Today, the cleric was here for exactly that purpose. He stood at the edge of the cliffs overlooking the waterfall amidst a vast meadow where the grass grew tall and lush; the fields surrounding the cataract was full of beautiful flora such as blue, red, or yellow wildflowers as well as lavender, which gave rise to a pleasant smell in the air. As he observed the foaming white water below, a cool breeze blew through the air and ruffled up Milam's dark blond hair, sending streaks of yellow into his eyes; he thought he heard something in the distance — a voice, perhaps? - and it seemed to call out to him, faintly at first, as if shielded by the confines of distance, but eventually it began to grow louder and louder.

 _…_ _?_

As with the waves on the beaches of Dale's Port, Milam was fascinated by the appearance of water. He found a strange sort of consolation in watching its ceaseless nature — how the water from the rivers seemed to drift on endlessly, and, like the pouring of an hourglass without end, flowed down eternally over the cliffs into the massive white pool below. The cleric realized that in the end it was meaningless to think about these things, for that was the nature of the world and water moved in a perpetual cycle within the Realm's isolated environment, but he still found it fascinating to think about. Even as he gazed down into the pool below, he realized that in water - as with the oceans — he saw a certain depth in the universe that he could never reach, both one of space and of time. In comparison to land water covered much larger and unimaginably huge distances, and in the waves on the beach or the cascading of the waterfall there was a cycle that had existed for ages, transcending time far beyond human thought and memory. It calmed him, in a way, to think of himself as simply an observer of water, of the material universe — he felt that his own insignificance as an individual being created a quaint sort of order within the vastness of nature.

Or maybe that was simply the isolation beginning to get to him. Two days wasn't much for a journey, but for some reason Milam couldn't wait to finish the hunt and go home to claim his reward. Eight vitality pots would serve him extremely well; he felt that it was about time to start living in wealth and luxury.

There came the voice again. It was now much closer, and to his alarm it sounded rather shrill and worried, almost like a warning; he wondered if he should turn around and see who the voice belonged to. It was a good thing that he did; as difficult as it was for Milam to pull himself out of his thoughts and away from the tranquil sight of the waterfall, doing so ended up saving him from taking a few hard hits. A cold ringing sound foreshadowed the flashing of steel through the air, and as the cleric turned around he saw several knives and swords aiming for his head. Milam instantly jumped out of the way, and the swords flew through the air, missing his shoulder by just about an inch. He stood up and readied himself to take on whatever had ambushed him, and found himself face-to-face with a band of black-cloaked night elves.

 _Now…isn't this just a little inconvenient?_

The first one unsheathed a large katana and lunged at Milam, but the cleric was able to dodge the attack easily; he retaliated by sending a fireball from his wand towards the creature, striking the elf upon the chest and incinerating him into ashes. The others formed a circle around him, and two of them raised ranged weapons — one a bow and an arrow, the other a magical staff. Milam decided to take on the spell caster first, and he aimed his wand towards that elf. It was his opponent who fired the initial shot, a shell of blue energy that would explode upon impact; Milam countered by sending forth a dark, crackling bolt of fire. The two spells collided together in midair and burst into a cloud of smoke and flames; the cleric covered his face with his hand and backed away from the site of impact. A second later, though, he decided to take the initiative and cast a second spell to finish the dark elf off.

Summoning up his concentration, Milam gazed through the smoke and found the outline of his target in the distance, standing just a few yards away; he whipped his wand through the air and sent forth a blazing swirl of fire. There came a scream, and then the creature fell upon its knees and tumbled to the floor. At the exact same moment Milam suddenly felt a sharp pain pierce his shoulders, and he realized that he had been struck by an arrow. The cleric spun around and cast another spell, summoning up a jagged bolt of lightning to strike down the archer, but the creature had already stepped out of the way and the bolt merely singed the tip of the elves' dark red cloak.

Once all the smoke had disappeared, Milam realized that he was once again surrounded. Two more sword-wielding elf warriors were advancing upon him, and three archers as well as another spell-caster remained; to top it off there was also a tall green Lizard God in the distance, a large and bulky creature with smooth emerald scales, slitted yellow eyes, and two large golden horns. The Lizard raised its arms up into the air — revealing massive white claws — and then it took the stance of a predator waiting to pounce. A second later, the group charged.

Damn it! I may have to take a few painful hits if I'm to make my way out of this one…

Taking care of the melee attackers were his first priority. They advanced upon him quickly and with little caution, as were typical of the Night Elves' tactics; the warriors were too sure that their brute frontal charge would work. Milam jumped out of the way as the first elf struck at him with a dagger; before the cleric could retaliate, however, he heard something like the twinge of arrows and he quickly ducked. To his surprise, no arrows flew over his head. A second later there came the screams of his enemies, and the cleric looked up to see that the enemy group had been pierced by a flurry of blood-red arrows. Behind the fallen bodies a Huntress stood fighting off the Lizard God, who, upon realizing that all of its minions had been slain, charged at her in rage. She ducked as one of its deadly claws flew over the head, but before she could move out of the way the Lizard God summoned up a burst of magical power and struck her down with a wave of deadly green bolts.

To his surprise, the Huntress looked like she barely took any damage, and she quickly returned to her feet. As the Lizard God backed away to protect itself, there suddenly came a fireball from the Huntress' hands, and the creature was blasted into ashes by the powerful magical spell.

 _…_ _What!?_

Milam hurried over towards the Huntress, who calmly put away her blood-red bow and turned around with a smile upon her face. She had curly orange hair and deep gray eyes, with a thin face that outlined hollow cheeks and a high nose. The Huntress stepped over the body of the Lizard God and chuckled a bit to herself.

"Surprised? Don't be. I get that an extraordinary lot."

"How can I not be surprised?" Milam asked, stuttering a little as he spoke. "I saw you use magic! Magic! By a Huntress!"

She turned around and smiled slyly at the cleric. "First, you should actually thank me for saving your life."

Milam nodded. "Yes, thank you for helping me kill all of those monsters. Now, can you explain to me how in the world you're able to usemagic!?"

The Huntress shrugged. "Oh, a bit of learning here and there, and a bit of practice…" She responded distractedly. "It's not as difficult as you might think. But then again, seeing as you're a cleric, you probably don't think that casting spells is difficult at all, am I right?"

Milam blinked. "It's not for me, because I was given a wand and a tome, but for you…"

"You don't have to stick to what you're given, you know. That's just _playing by the rules_ , or what I call 'being a sheep.' In a world ruled by an insane homicidal maniac who believes himself to be a God, sometimes you just have to bend the rules a little bit."

 _What the hell is she saying!?_

"Those rules are clearly defined restrictions, though," Milam replied a bit frustratingly. "You don't just 'learn' magic just because you want to!"

The Huntress folded her arms and shook her head. "That's exactly what Oryx wants you to think."

"No, it's true! There are warriors and archers and other melee fighters who have tried for decades to learn how to cast spells, but none of them have succeeded yet! Why is it that you, as a Huntress, can cast magic, but so many other people can't!?"

There was a silence between them; a very long one, actually, that lasted for almost half a minute. Finally the Huntress sighed, and then she said, "Maybe they just didn't try hard enough."

 _…_ _What!?_

"Practice makes perfect, you know."

Milam struck his face with the palm of his hand; he decided then to give up pursuing the Huntress' secret, for his efforts were useless. He turned around and picked up all his belongings and prepared to leave.

"Now, just where are you going?"

The cleric turned around. "To kill Oryx, of course," he replied with a little smirk on his face. "Permanently, this time. No one else can do it but me."

To his surprise, the Huntress simply nodded. "I'm sure you can try. Mind if I come along to help?"

Milam shrugged. "Sure, why not?" _She can't be serious._

"Oryx won't be here for a while yet — there are still a lot of minions left in the Realm. Where are you actually going?"

"I could ask you the same thing, miss mysterious."

"Oh, I'm just checking out the Crystal Prisoner. I heard it's been causing quite a lot of chaos out here on the highlands, especially near the Blue Wood."

 _Damn it! That means she has the same goal as me…_

"Surprise, surprise. I happen to have the same objective as well," Milam responded in a somewhat sarcastic tone of voice. He checked the Huntress' face, to see if her expression had changed any at all, but found that she still maintained a look of indifference.

"The name's Claire, by the way. You?"

"Milam."

"Let's go together, then. Since we're already at the cataract the Crystal Prisoner shouldn't be very far off from here; we'll arrive at the entrance of the Blue Wood in about a day."

 _Oh, darn it. I came here to his place looking for a travel partner, and she just accepted…I was hoping to find someone a bit less mysterious or quirky, though._

The cleric nodded hesitantly. "Alright, then."

* * *

Their journey during the afternoon was through barren plains and empty marshlands, a landscape typical of the wastes within the northern highlands; this was the border between the lush, grassy areas of the south and the snowy regions that lay beyond the Blue Wood. The air eventually became quite chilly, the warm breezes from the oceans in the south replaced by a cold and bitter wind. It was now dusk, and the sky — shielded behind a thick layer of clouds — was a dark and depressing gray; Milam walked amidst a meadow of wildflowers that was covered in many places by small mounds of snow. This made the ground wet and crunchy beneath his feet, and in many places their path was obstructed by a small marsh or pond. Claire decided to take the lead, for — being a Huntress — she was better at finding her way through difficult terrain; eventually, they were able to make adequate progress.

Milam found that Claire did not like to speak much, and for the most part they journeyed silently throughout the day. As they went farther to the north the number of travelers that they saw on the highlands decreased in frequency, and by the time it was evening they had went for several hours without meeting another person. At around dusk, Milam was already beginning to feel isolated, for he was a far distance away from civilization and there was nothing but wilderness all around him. His companion's presence gave him some comfort, though Claire's reserved personality — which he thought somewhat contrasted her earlier eccentricity when she was explaining her ability to use magic — didn't help his isolation that much. It was strange, in a way — ever since he had moved into the city Milam longed for solitude, and he wanted nothing more than to have the freedom to go wherever he wished. But for some reason now he found the isolation uncomfortable, if not a bit disturbing that there was such a vast emptiness around him; he wanted nothing more than for his journey to end as quickly as possible so that he could return home to his cousin.

 _Maybe that's the reason why I feel so lonely,_ Milam thought to himself as he began climbing up a tall hill. _I'm always concerned about my cousin, Kirie, and I just don't want to leave him behind._ The slippery mud crunched noisily beneath his feet, and a cool wind blew through the air, causing the tall grass about him to weave back and forth gracefully like the waves of a dark emerald ocean. He looked up and saw that the clouds were beginning to part from the sky, giving way to a dark blue portrait of stars and, in the distance, a pale and thinly veiled moon.

The cleric was the first to reach the top of the hill. He looked around him and saw the land for several miles around; the landscape consisted of dozens of wet, marshy meadows, and in the distance he could see faintly the outline of his destination hidden behind a series of long rolling hills. It was the Blue Wood, a forest that was known far and wide throughout the land for its unique trees, which seemed to be made of crystal and bore fascinating teal-coloured leaves. During the day, the forest looked almost like an ocean, for the sunlight gave the place a misty azure glow; the roofs of its trees would appear like the surface of still water: delicate and transparent, a radiant gem that contrasted the surrounding landscape.

"Pretty, isn't it?" Milam heard the Huntress whisper. He nodded a little in response, and then he sat down onto the ground - upon a dry spot - to rest his weary feet. The cleric leaned back and stretched his tired arms; he closed his eyes and yawned a little, but it was still too early to go to sleep. Milam had yet to eat dinner, and he still wanted to talk a little bit to Claire before he turned in for the night.

 _It's so lonely out here…_ the cleric thought to himself. _I stand like a tiny little speck within all the vastness of nature around me, and within these boundless confines I find myself alone, isolated, wishing to return to places where things and faces are familiar…_

"You don't look so well," Claire said suddenly, and she sat down beside Milam. "What's wrong?"

"…Nothing," the cleric responded. He closed his eyes and rested his head within the palms of his hands for a while; a few seconds later Milam laid down his backpack and took out his dinner. It was a sandwich of cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, and a single slice of meat — it would serve to quench his hunger for now. Claire ate something similar beside him, and for a while they did not speak anymore to each other. Even after he finished his meal Milam simply sat there, with a blank expression upon his face; he seemed to look steadily into the distance - though in his mind's eye the cleric knew that he wasn't really observing anything in particular. He just wanted to fix his gaze upon the world, a point in nature that was tiny but immeasurable: a small and yet infinitely perceivable distance. Whatever Milam looked at, he knew that it must have existed within some form, but he did not want to go and find out what it was — the cleric simply wished to let it be. The silence seemed to make him feel calmer, and after a while he simply closed his eyes before laying his head down upon the wet, grassy ground beneath him.

"Milam, is there something that you want to tell me?"

The cleric slowly opened up one of his eyes. "Not much that I don't already know."

For the first time ever, Milam saw a perplexed look appear upon Claire's face. "Don't tell me you know everything," she whispered in response, before laying aside her backpack and lying down beside him. "You're troubled. Everyone in this world is troubled. Everyone in this world wants to find a purpose."

 _A…purpose?_

"I don't know about the way you think, but personally, I always need to set goals for myself," Claire said. "Even if they are tiny and insignificant goals that I'll just forget about later. In this case, it's to hunt down the Crystal Prisoner. Doing these things, these small little personal quests…they help me keep my mind focused on something."

 _Huh…now that's an interesting way to look at things._

"I have no goals," Milam responded. "I only wish to survive on a daily basis."

"I suppose that works too." They exchanged no more words, for after that little conversation Claire quickly closed her eyes, and soon she was fast asleep. Milam turned around and looked up at the glowing lights above him. Due to a lack of light pollution the stars were much more visible out here in the skies than in the city, and he enjoyed observing their beauty. But soon he felt his eyes getting heavy as well, and the cleric found himself slowly nodding off as he thought about tiny little things that were insignificant and aimless.

* * *

Milam awoke with a start in the middle of the night; he had felt something — a presence, perhaps? — come near to him while he was asleep. He turned around and saw, to his surprise, that Claire was gone. He immediately grabbed his equipment and put on his backpack before departing to search for his companion in the darkness.

The cleric began by looking around the hills. The moon was currently full and high up in the skies; there were few trees within the region so he could see quite clearly around him. Milam thought that he saw a shadow heading down the side of the hill in the direction of the woods, so he went after it; a few seconds later the the shadow stopped, and it seemed to turn around. At that moment the cleric saw that it had a human-like body, so he concluded that it must have been Claire, for she was the only person (that he knew of, at least) that could've been in the place for miles around. It turned out that he was right. As Milam cautiously approached the stationary shadow, he saw the Huntress' long, curly orange hair and purple dress, and he knew then that it must be her.

"Hey! What are you doing out there?"

Claire turned around and rushed back to Milam. "Sorry for taking off like that," she said. The cleric noticed that there was a rather nasty scratch upon the Huntress' forehead — it was not a serious wound, but the cut was covered in some blood. "You should've asked me to help," Milam replied before taking out a tome and casting a quick healing spell.

A wave of energy washed over Claire's face, and her wound quickly disappeared.

"There is something out here," Claire whispered in response. She suddenly spun around and struck out with a dagger at something behind her; Milam noticed that she actually had two Agateclaws — he could tell by the violet hue of their blades — sheathed upon her belt. _Arrows, magic, daggers - how many weapons does this Huntress have on her, anyways?_

"It's here," the Huntress whispered. "The Crystal Prisoner. It's out here to seek us. We, the hunters, are being hunted."

 _Now, just what does she mean by that?_ Milam thought, feeling a bit disturbed by the ominous tone in Claire's voice.

A powerful wind suddenly blew past, and Milam immediately became alert; he thought he heard a neighing sound, but it was demented and cacophonic; he was immediately reminded of the 'Nightmares" which were commanded by the Crystal Prisoner. The cleric became sure of it when the wind also carried along the noise of galloping hooves, and the two immediately took a defensive stance as they prepared for battle. Claire took out her bow while Milam raised his wand up into the air, and they stood back-to-back with each other; the cleric summoned up his concentration and began casting a spell.

"Do you see that?" Claire asked, and she looked at something in the distance. It was dark, but Milam could just make out the glowing red lights that the Huntress pointed towards; he guessed that they were the eyes of the Nightmares, for the lights appeared to move along with the slim black figures that galloped beneath them.

"They're coming," Milam whispered. "How strong are they? Do we fire first?"

"Nightmares are tough to hit since they move very fast, and they can also hit very hard," Claire responded. "I suggest we strike first — it might catch them off guard."

Milam nodded. He stepped forward and lifted his wand up into the air; a second later a bolt of lightning split out of the skies and blasted the lead horse closest to him. He heard a loud neighing sound erupt out of the creature, and the noise shocked his ears; up close, the nightmare's neighing sounded more like a hysterical shriek. The cleric quickly backed away from his target, but found immediately afterwards that he was surrounded; four nightmares were closing in on them from all sides, and they were standing near the bottom of the hill. _This isn't good._

To his surprise, Claire did not hesitate to charge into the fray of the battle. She unleashed a spray of arrows in a circle towards the Nightmares, which quickly halted their charge; then she unsheathed her dagger and leaped at the nearest one. Feeling encouraged by her actions, Milam did the same as well, and he pointed his wand towards the Nightmare directly in front of him. The creature neighed loudly, before lifting its hooves up into the air and throwing out — from its chest - what appeared to be a bolt of yellow magic. The cleric quickly ducked, but as he did so he felt a kick from behind and fell rolling to the floor; the two nightmares had caught him into a pincer attack.

Milam sprang to his feet and shot forward a bolt of fire, blasting the first Nightmare upon the face and the creature shrunk away; the second one charged at him more fiercely than ever. Right before the monster attacked, it send out another beam of yellow magic, and Milam countered with a lightning spell. The resulting collision was a burst of flames that threw the cleric back several feet as rock and dust sprayed into the air; the Nightmare, however, remained standing. He heard once again the creature's terrifying shriek as it charged forward and prepared to deliver the finishing blow to Milam; the cleric struggled to return to his feet but found that both his knees were bruised, and he nearly collapsed to the floor again before he could defend himself.

A flurry of arrows shot from out of the darkness, striking the horse upon its sides and causing the creature to topple over onto the ground. Milam turned around to find Claire approaching him with the two other Nightmares hot upon her trail; they had broken out of the pincer attack, but now the creatures had joined together to engage in a full frontal assault. After whispering a quick "thank you," the cleric raised his wand up into the air and prepared to cast a lightning spell. At the exact same time, Claire thrust her arms forward, and out came a fireball — followed by a jagged bolt of ice — and the three spells collided together, creating a massive explosion that sent all of the Nightmares flying through the air.

 _That Huntress…her spells are more powerful that mine! I'm not sure whether I should be thankful or jealous…_

Once all the smoke had cleared, Milam looked and saw that all of the Nightmares were lying dead upon the floor. Just to make sure that they were all dead, he shot another few lightning bolts at each of them, specifically at their necks; a dismembered horse head was a gruesome trophy, but he would need to take one in order to prove that he had completed the hunt.

"Let's leave," Claire suggested after the battle. She looked around the floor and picked up one of her daggers, which had fallen to the ground; then she grabbed her bow and turned back towards the hill.

"Wait…you're not going to deal with the Crystal Prisoner?"

The Huntress shook her head, and then she smiled halfheartedly. "No…that'll be for another time. I simply wish to leave my mark upon this battlefield."

 _Huh…now, that's a bit strange._ Milam noticed that she did not take any of the Nightmares' parts either, like he did, so she certainly didn't fight them to complete a hunt.

"That's it? That's all you wanted to do?"

The Huntress nodded in response. "The Crystal Prisoner himself is too powerful for me to take on by myself. Once I find a strong group, I'll return to finish the job."

"Why didn't you just come with a more powerful group in the first place?

Claire shrugged absentmindedly. "Maybe I should have. But wouldn't it be better if I had killed the Nightmares first, so that when I actually go to find a group I could tell them that I was the one who slew the Crystal Prisoner's steeds? That would give my reputation in battle a huge boost."

 _That makes a bit more sense._

The cleric followed after the Huntress, but as he did so he suddenly tripped over something on the floor. He looked and saw that it was a large green rock; it lay right beside the spot where she had picked up her dagger, so he thought that it must be hers. Milam picked it up and yelled, "Hey, Claire! You forgot this?"

The Huntress turned around and saw — with a look of astonishment upon her face — the stone that Milam held in his hands. She quickly ran towards him and grabbed it, before putting the rock away into her pocket with a hasty "thank you."

"Was it something precious?" Milam asked.

"No," Claire responded. "Not really. By the way, we'll probably be parting ways now. I'm actually heading back east towards Ranorn Forest. Where are you going?"

"Back south, to Dale's Port," Milam answered.

The Huntress nodded. "Well, good luck on your journey then. It was nice fighting alongside you."

The cleric also nodded in response, and then the Huntress went off on her own as he stepped back towards the hill.

He thought that the rock belonging to Claire looked strange, if not a bit familiar, what with its luminescent green glow and all. Milam turned pale as he realized that it very much resembled the emerald Aether stone he had found at the Marilith's cave and given to Liwen back at Dale's Port.


	5. ROTMG SEQUEL:NOVEL V

**RotMG Sequel: Chapter V**

 **Warning: This story contains adult content.**

In about five days Milam had returned back to the city, and he made straight for the petitioner's house so that he could claim his reward. The cleric thought that he looked a bit awkward walking through town with a dead horse's head in his arms — it had been too big to fit into his backpack. A few threw questioning glances towards him as he passed by; Milam simply continued walking with his back straight and arm swinging as if he took no notice of them.

The petitioner was yet another veteran, this time by the name of McFarvo. He was an archer who lived in a large mansion by the edge of town; Milam had marveled at the impressive features of the house, for tall stone columns lined its front porch, making the place look as if it came from out of the classical eras. The inside, however, looked a bit less expensive than BMJ's place had been. There were no paintings up along the walls of the marble hallways, and Milam did not find any objects of interest such as instruments or games inside the living room. He guessed that perhaps this house was quite new, or maybe McFarvo simply didn't have the time to buy expensive luxuries or worry about interior decoration.

"I knew someone was going to respond to his hunt. The reward's rather tempting, isn't it?" McFarvo commented when he saw Milam bring his gruesome trophy into the room.

"Should I…throw this out?" Milam asked, feeling awkward that he had gone into someone's living room with a disembodied head.

The archer nodded. "You've done well, though. The Crystal Prisoner is extremely powerful and has been a rather nasty pest of late to travelers on the highlands."

Milam shook his head. "I didn't kill it. I only managed to kill the Prisoner's steeds."

"That's still a fine job," McFarvo continued. "No one has yet been able to best the Crystal Prisoner in battle. But with the Nightmares gone, travelers may now stand a chance. I might want to participate in its slaying myself."

The archer reached into a nearby cupboard and took out a bag containing exactly eight vitalit pots. To Milam's surprise, he suddenly saw McFarvo put two more pots into the bag.

"I don't mean to offend you, but you look rather poor," the archer said. "Here, the two pots will definitely benefit you more than it will help me."

 _Damn…do I really look that poor?_ Milam thought to himself. _What is it about me? My clothes? My equipment? My shape? I suppose I am quite thin…_

"Thanks a lot," Milam added. "But it really wasn't necessary. I could just go to the charity to get gear for myself if I'm really that poor."

 _Oh, the charity! Didn't Kirie say that he would stay there while I was on my journey? I hope I didn't worry him too much while I was gone…_

"Take it," McFarvo insisted. Milam nodded, and then he said goodbye and prepared to leave. As the cleric was about to go out the door, he suddenly heard the archer call out to him.

"The charity, huh?" McFarvo said with a somewhat perplexed look upon his face. "You mean the place run by that old wizard?"

"If you mean Artem, then yes," Milam responded with a slight smile.

McFarvo furrowed his brow. "Don't rely on them too much."

 _What!? What does he mean by that?_

"What do you mean?" Milam asked. He suddenly recalled how eager the woman, Selena, had been to give him free gear when he asked them for help about a week ago.

"To tell you the truth, I'm not sure," McFarvo replied. "It's just…an inkling, I guess."

After staring at the archer for a few seconds, Milam asked, "I don't think there's anything wrong with the charity." Is there?

McFarvo shook his head. "Nevermind. Forget what I said, then."

With a shrug, Milam waved goodbye and then he departed out of the archer's house. Next, he made his way towards the charity, which was not actually too far away from where McFarvo lived; he arrived in less than an hour, recognizing the tall building by the beautiful rock garden that lay before the front gate. This time there were no guards; in fact the gates lay right open, and many people were milling about, so the cleric saw fit to walk right in.

The inside of the building was quite big — in fact, it was almost the size of a castle — so Milam had a bit of trouble finding Kirie. _Maybe the size of this place is to store all the equipment that the charity hoards up,_ the cleric thought to himself. He made his way past long marble hallways with tall, arched ceilings, passing by many intersections and doors along the way. Eventually he arrived at the dining room — he guessed this was where the charity's workers ate at — and found many clients and employees walking about. Milam thought to continue walking all the way towards the front office to ask Artem for Kirie's whereabouts, but decided against it when he saw the long lineup in the hallway just up ahead.

 _Wow…this place sure is busy in the afternoon…_

Milam stopped in a hallway and asked a few workers if they had seen Kirie, but to his dismay none of them recalled seeing anyone resembling his younger cousin. But as he searched the cleric eventually found Kirie by himself, who was sitting in someone's room with a handkerchief in his hand. The boy appeared to have been cleaning up one of the dining tables, and he looked exhausted — perhaps even a sleep deprived. When Milam appeared Kirie simply looked up at him with tired eyes and smiled wearily; he put away his handkerchief and laid his head down upon the table.

"You look more tired than I am, and I'm the one who actually went on a journey here," Milam commented as he stepped into the room. "Is this your work? You got hired as some sort of a waiter or a janitor?"

Kirie shrugged. "I had nothing else to do around here anyway."

The cleric folded his arms. "It doesn't seem like it. You do look really tired; have you been sleeping or eating properly?"

The boy leaned back in his chair. "I'm not that tired."

"Well, then, come on — let's go already. We can make for the market and buy all the food we want — I'll cook you a delicious dinner tonight, I promise."

To his surprise, as Kirie attempted to stand up the boy suddenly collapsed to the ground. Milam sprang forward and grabbed him by the arms before he fell headfirst onto the floor.

"Let's go home first," Kirie whispered. "Can you carry me over to our house? We can buy food later."

 _Now, this is a bit weird._ "Hey…is there something wrong?" Milam asked as he lifted the boy up onto his back.

Kirie did not respond. Rather, he simply buried his head into the cleric's shoulders and closed his eyes.

 _Wow…how hard did they make him work here!? Maybe I'll come back to complain about this later…_

As his cousin requested, Milam went back to his house instead of making for the market once he had left the building. Along the way he could feel Kirie moving slightly upon his shoulders, so he was sure that the boy had not fallen asleep yet. _If he's so tired…then why isn't he sleeping right now?_

It took Milam about an hour to arrive back at his house, and to his surprise, he felt glad to be home again. Only about a week ago he thought he would die of boredom in his house, for he was poor and had nothing to do all day; after being on just two journeys the cleric suddenly loved his home. There was a certain safety, a certain feeling of being sheltered that Milam had gotten used to inside his house; it must've developed over the course of the past month since he moved into the city. _There's also the fact that I need to keep watch of Kirie…_ the cleric thought to himself. _Damn. I thought I belonged out in the Realm, fighting monsters and slaying Gods alongside fellow travelers. But now…_

Milam unlocked the door and stepped into the living room. As he did so, the cleric suddenly felt his cousin wrench himself violently off his shoulders, before running towards the chairs in the living room and collapsing on top of one. Kirie turned around with a look of anguish upon his face that surprised Milam; the cleric had never seen his cousin so distressed before.

"That charity is run by monsters. Not the workers or the employees; it's the three of them. They aren't human!"

 _…_ _What!?_

Milam rushed forward and knelt down before his cousin, who was crying upon the chair. "What happened? Tell me what happened!?"

"It's not a charity; we're their slaves!" Kirie almost seemed surprised by his own outburst, and for a few seconds he tried to calm down. But immediately afterwards the boy suddenly gasped, and he covered his face with one of his hands.

"No one who works there is allowed to leave. No one. We're barely fed and are treated just like slaves. They _raped me_! And they abuse all the other employees too…we're mere objects to them…"

 _…_

 _…_ _WHAT!?_

Milam shifted his feet around slightly, unsure of what to say. Finally he stood up and sat on a chair beside his cousin. "…Who did that? Who raped you?"

Kirie put his hand down and stared at the floor with tear-stricken eyes. "Well, who do you think? Artem, and especially that other man, Belk. If it wasn't me they would abuse some other worker in the charity. They aren't human. I know from being close to their presence."

 _…_ _Artem!? Th-th-at man…how could he…_

"I'm not sure what kind of magic they're practicing, but for some reason they need humans to work for them," Kirie continued; his voice had become raspy and was now somewhat lifeless. "At night, when the building closes down, all the workers gather before the front office…"

The boy looked up at the ceiling and sobbed a bit. "All of us knelt down before some giant statue — I think they called it a sphinx or something — and our heads would be bowed. No one was allowed to look up. Artem, Belk, and Selena — they called themselves the 'Ancients' or something — would whisper an incantation, and then the room would grow dark."

Kirie lifted his legs up onto the chair and hugged them with his arms. "It was complete and utter submission. I think our energy was drained or something, because afterwards everyone looked extremely tired. Some of the older workers simply…disappeared after a few days. Several of them collapsed in the middle of the incantation. It's so…frightful."

One of Milam's eyes twitched. He wanted to say something, but at that moment he felt too stunned to even open up his mouth.

Kirie turned around and looked at the cleric. "I'm so glad that you came," he said with a halfhearted smile. "I begged to leave but they wouldn't let me. If you hadn't come to pick me up…I think I'd have died there."

For nearly an entire minute, there was silence in the room. Kirie simply sat in his chair and continued to sob, though he eventually calmed down. As for Milam, he buried his face in his hands and shuddered.

 _I don't know…_

 _What should I say? What could I do?_

 _I can't believe…I can't believe I almost left…_

 _…_ _I almost left Kirie to die…_

 _…_

 _…_ _This is FUCKING UNACCEPTABLE!_

There came, to the cleric's surprise, suddenly a knock upon the door, followed by a familiar voice yelling "Hello!" Milam looked up and sighed; he was still shuddering a bit. It was Liwen.

The brown-haired boy in the gray robes came into Milam's house with somewhat of a smirk upon his face. He was about to say something but suddenly noticed the somber attitude within the room, and quickly shut his mouth.

"What do you want, Liwen?" Milam asked.

"Is this a bad time?" The sorcerer replied. He held a stack of scrolls and pages in his hands — no doubt more research material that he wanted Milam to help investigate.

"It's a terrible time," the cleric responded almost sarcastically. "No shit. Do you know what's been happening in this town?"

"Uh…" Liwen shrugged.

"I'll show you what's happened. But not now — maybe later, once I sort everything out." Milam stood up and grabbed his wand. "Can you do me a favour? Watch over Kirie for a few hours."

"Again?" Liwen replied, but he could tell from the tone in Milam's voice that the cleric meant business.

"Please, just stay in this house until I'm back, okay?" Milam said. "I just need to head over to the charity for a second."

"What's this all about, anyways?" But the cleric didn't respond; rather Milam simply put on all his equipment and rushed out the door.

* * *

As he entered the charity building Milam pointed towards every worker that he came across and yelled "You can leave this place!" At first all of them looked at him in surprise, but the cleric simply nodded at them; he tried to look as sympathetic as possible. Some of them dropped whatever they were doing and ran towards the door; others simply stared on at him in surprise.

Milam pushed his way past all the clients until he reached the door leading into the front office room. He stepped forward and banged upon it, shouting "Open up!"

There came a woman's voice in response. "Wait a minute!" Selena.

"But this is really urgent!"

A few seconds later, it was Belk who answered his call. The large man opened up the door for a brief moment to see what was going on; at that instant Milam forced his way into the room, much to the displeasure of the clients who were waiting outside.

The cleric shoved past Belk and whipped out his wand, before pointing it at the old man who sat behind the office desk. "Artem! Show me the statue, now!"

It was Selena who first responded; she jumped to her feet and stood guard in front of Artem. "That boy!" She whispered to herself. "It's the newcomer, isn't it? His name was Kirie, right?"

Milam pointed the wand at Selena's face. "Answer me!"

There came a laugh from behind. Belk stepped forward and clapped his hands , while Artem leaned back in his seat and folded his arms.

"Selena, there is nothing to fear," Artem whispered; the woman nodded, before bowing curtly and then stepping out of the way.

"We treated Kirie well during his time here," the old wizard continued. "He was a hard worker; very mature for his age, in fact. Didn't complain one bit."

"Don't lie to me," Milam replied, malice seething in his voice. "You raped him and forced him to work like a slave; if I hadn't come along he'd probably have dropped dead by now. All of you must pay."

"Oh, really?" Artem said. He sighed, before standing up from his seat and taking a step forward. "How do you know we've really treated him that way?"

Milam turned around and pointed his wand again at the wizard. "I know that he was telling me the truth. I know what you've been doing to all your workers in this 'charity'. Now, show me the statue!"

"Why do you wish to see it?"

"So that I can destroy it!" At that moment Milam leaped forward and unleashed a spell at Artem's face. The wizard quickly ducked, and a bolt of blue energy flew over his head; it smashed into the cupboard behind Artem's desk, blasting it into pieces and causing all the gear inside to come crashing to the floor.

"Seize him!"

Milam spun around just in time to see Belk aiming a blow at his face. He quickly jumped out of the way, but fell straight into an attack from Selena; she had whipped a dagger out from her belt and sliced him across the shoulder. The cleric staggered back in pain and retreated from his opponent, but Selena kept coming towards him; Milam raised his wand up into the air and shot out another blast of energy at her.

To his surprise, a barrier of blue energy suddenly surrounded the curly-haired woman, and his spell disappeared. Then Selena stepped forward, and for a split second Milam thought that he saw something within her — it felt like the presence of a God, a being far mightier than her present form showed — and her barrier transformed into the shape of a three-pronged arrow resembling a fork. It flew towards him, and the impact felt like he had just been stabbed by a thousand needles. Milam shrieked in pain as the spell took effect; each "needle"-like stab began to flow through his body, coursing through his veins and bloodstream and freezing up his limbs. The cleric felt his arms, legs, and body go numb, and as the pain spread to his head he experienced a chill entering his mind; it seemed to make his emotions go cold and lifeless. He had been paralyzed.

"So, yes, you are right," Artem whispered as he returned to his seat behind his office desk. "We are more than we seem. But is that a bad thing?"

Milam tried to speak, but found that he could not even move his lips.

"It would be a shame to kill you now," Selena said, and she stepped forward with her dagger. The numbness in Milam's body was immediately pierced by a hot, searing pain, and he felt blood flow down his wrist.

"We need sacrifices; we need _human energy_ ," Belk added. "That's why we conduct the rituals."

 _What are they talking about!? What could they mean?_

"Selena, don't hit him any longer. We'll sacrifice what remaining energy he has at the moment."

The pain in his wrist seemed to free up a bit of his paralysis, and out of desperation Milam managed to move his arms. When he tried to use his wand, he felt as if he was attempting to break out of a block of ice. Nevertheless the cleric succeeded by sheer force of will, for at that moment something within him seemed to click, and it forced him to overcome his bounds; Milam knew that he could not give up and die now. He thought that it might've been his promise to Liwen, for he had said that he would return; or maybe he felt that he still needed to go back to protect Kirie. There came a burning desire within him to live, and Milam was able to shatter the spell that had paralyzed him to the spot; he leaped forward and blasted Selena in the back of the head with a ball of fire.

There came a shriek of rage and pain from the woman that he had never heard before.

At that moment, Milam turned around and bolted out the door. He did not stay any longer to see what had happened to Selena; he knew of only one word, one thought inside his head, and it became instinct: "run". As he pushed through the crowd of clients that had been waiting in line behind the door, Milam felt something grow behind him, a dark and ominous presence, and it seemed to seethe with magical power. There came several screams — human screams — as he reached the entrance gates of the building, and he decided to chance a look — just to see if he would make it.

The hallway was covered in flames.

He immediately resumed running.

* * *

Milam arrived back into his house panting and gasping for breath; he bled a little behind him, but for the most part the cleric had already used his tome to heal his wounds.

He could not have been happier to see that Kirie and Liwen were still there.

"I heard what happened," Liwen said as Milam came into the living room. "Kirie told me."

"And he's absolutely right," Milam responded. He nearly reeled over, for he had run for over forty minutes and was completely out of breath. "Those people who run the charity aren't human. They're something else entirely."

"Calm down, now," Liwen said. "I think I have something that might interest you."

The gray-robed boy took out a handful of scrolls and laid them out upon the table. Milam glanced at each one of them and saw that they were designs for magical weapons; levitating swords, glowing arrows, flaming staffs, and the like.

"Judging from your current condition, your 'talk' with the Ancients didn't go very well," Liwen continued.

"No, and we're in terrible danger right now," Milam replied. "They could be hunting us down at this very moment."

"That could be a problem."

"We need to get out of here!"

Liwen grabbed two of the scrolls and pointed towards the magical weapons that had been drawn upon them. "I've been designing these for a rather long time," the brown-haired boy said. "All I need are the resources, and someone who can accompany on a journey. I can create a weapon for you with immense and unparalleled power! Not even the Ancients will be able to defeat you if you own one of these."

Milam grabbed the scrolls. The first weapon was a staff called "Scorpion Tail," while the second was a wand called "Gold Whisker."

"…I see you have quite the imagination for names."

"More importantly, these weapons are made of Dark Mithril, which only exist in regions of extremely high Aether concentrations. Do you know how powerful they could be if they're forged!?"

Milam shook his head, but Liwen simply continued. "Come! We'll go to the Aether cave that you found by the beach the other day when you were hunting the Marilith. I've got something that will allow us to enter the cave without being hindered by the Aether."

"Surely you must've noticed that we have far more pressing matters to worry about at the moment than your little experiments," Milam said. "For one, we have to leave this place. _Now._ "

Kirie stood up and tugged at Milam's shoulders. "Where are we going?"

"I don't know!" The cleric responded. He buried his face within his hands and leaned upon the table. "Somewhere, I guess. A place far, far away from this town."

"My suggestion is still valid, you know," Liwen responded. "I need to forge these weapons. And I must see you use them to defeat the Ancients that preside over this town!"

Milam did not respond, and for several seconds the room was silent. The cleric felt a throbbing in his head; at the moment, he was completely lost on what to do. _The most important thing is to leave this place so that I can protect Kirie…but then, what will become of this town? I need to find out more about these "Ancients" and the magical rituals that they're performing…what exactly are they trying to do?_

The cleric put his head down upon the table. _But I don't have the means to do so. The Ancients are simply too powerful…what are they, anyways? Gods? Monsters?_

"You'd better make a decision fast. Didn't you say that we might be in danger if we stay in this town any longer?" Liwen inquired.

Milam threw the gray-robed sorcerer an annoyed look. _What I need at this moment is power; the power to defeat the Ancients and save this town from whatever they're trying to do. Maybe Liwen's suggestion isn't so bad after all. It sounds far-fetched, but maybe, just maybe, if he's right on the strength of these 'Dark Mithril' weapons…_

"Fine. I'll go by myself, then," Liwen said. "I don't need your help on every journey."

 _Liwen…there are lots of dangerous monsters in the Realm. You'll die out there by yourself, since you can't even fight or hunt. And yet you'd still want to go just to do your research!?_

Milam turned around and saw that the gray-robed boy was already packing up and about to go out the door.

"Wait!" The cleric yelled. "You can't just go out there by yourself! You'll die!"

"So? It's not like you care."

 _…_ _What!? How can you say that? Of course I care! You're one of my only friends in this world!_

"H-hey! I'm coming after you, alright?"

 _Oh, shit. What did I get myself into?_

Liwen turned around with a slight grin upon his face, and he folded his arms. "In that case, let's get going."

Milam sighed. He turned around and saw that Kirie was still standing beside him, holding on to his arm.

"You'll have to come with me," the cleric said. "Are you ready to go on a journey?"

"I suppose it's better than staying here," the boy responded. "I can't…fight or do anything, though."

"I don't care — let me handle all that. Now, put on one of my robes for protection. Take the white one!"

Milam stepped towards the door, where Liwen presented him with the two scrolls again. "Pick one weapon. Which do you think suits you better?"

"I'm a cleric, idiot," Milam responded. "I'll take the wand."

"Right. To start, let's go to the market and buy ourselves a Bulwark."

 _…_ _A Bulwark. A Bulwark wand. Are you FUCKING CRAZY!?_

"Don't worry, I know a rich person who sells them cheap. We can get it for twelve vitality pots, which I have in my bag at the moment."

Kirie came rushing towards them dressed in a white Illusionist's robe that appeared a little big for him. It will do for now, Milam thought to himself. And if it doesn't, I can just cut off part of the sleeves.

"Let's go," Liwen said.

* * *

They had brought everything of value with them — leaving their house completely empty — and also purchased several bags of food from the market. It was enough to last them about two weeks. Kirie had also brought with him the flute, for Milam thought it was still highly precious and insisted on bringing it along on this journey.

Liwen had been right — there was indeed a rich veteran by the name of 'Seto' who sold rare equipment for extremely cheap prices by the town square. This gave Milam a total of three weapons, for now he had his Shadow Wand, the Bulwark Wand, and also the Ravenheart sword that he had acquired from his first hunt.

"It's late in the afternoon, but let's not stay here any longer," Liwen suggested once they were done purchasing everything that they needed. As they prepared to leave the market, however, the cleric suddenly asked if the sorcerer still had any spare scrolls, or even a single piece of paper on him.

They had stopped by a stationery shop.

"What for?" Liwen asked as he gave the cleric one of his scrolls.

"Let's give this town a warning," Milam replied. Stationery was quite cheap, since hardly anybody actually had the time to write; a purchase of a fountain pen and several colour pencils only cost a single health pot. He began to go to work creating a 'hunt' poster.

 **Petition: Artem, Belk, and Selena**

 _Wanted for: enslavement of fellow human beings and child molesting. These three aren't what they seem. Arrest them and free every worker at their charity! Keep this poster up and spread the word._

 _Reward: Freedom for our town_

With some glue, Milam put the poster up onto a notice board at the town square. The three of them quickly left the city.


	6. ROTMG SEQUEL:NOVEL VI

**RotMG Sequel: Chapter VI**

 **Warning: This story contains adult content.**

Even as he stepped through the dark mouth of the cave by the beach, Milam could feel every inch of his body urging him to turn back. He became overwhelmed by the sensation of flying again, as if he had levitated up into the skies and was floating through the clouds; it was the exact same feeling that had engulfed his mind the last time he came into this place. Then there was also the strange jingling sound that he thought he heard in the back of his head, and it made a chill creep down his back; the inside of the cave was indeed a lot colder than the beach outside.

 _Liwen is insane if he wants to go deeper into this place…_

"Stop," Milam whispered as he stepped back out of the cave. "I don't think we should proceed any farther."

"Don't be so afraid of the Aether," Liwen responded, and he held up the candle in his hand. "I told you that we shouldn't worry about it as long as we have this."

 _Damn it, Liwen. You and your crazy inventions…_

"What about Kirie? What if something nasty is lurking in this cave?"

Milam's younger cousin stood close by beside him, holding his hand.

"That's why I brought these with me. Liwen took out two long white daggers from within his coat and passed one towards Kirie. "They may look like simple short swords, but I've enhanced them with a bit of magical power. They'll protect you when you're in danger."

 _Ugh…I just don't like this place…_

Suddenly the candle in Liwen's hand flared to life, illuminating a bright green flame that burned with a strange demeanor; it drifted back and forth fluidly, almost like the waves on the beach. The sorcerer had just stepped into the cave alongside Milam and Kirie.

"It worked," Liwen said with a smirk upon his face. "This candle has been infused with magic. Instead of oxygen the flame is fueled by the transmission of energy through Aether Waves. In places of high Aether concentration — that is, where many waves intersect - it burns brightly."

The sorcerer had explained earlier that the Aether exhibited the properties of a wave.

"At the same time, the candle absorbs Aether-energized particles and thus rids the air around us of any of the Aether's negative influences. We won't disappear into thin air as long as we stay within reach of the flame."

 _Alright, Liwen, you win. I'm only following you, after all, because I need a new and more powerful weapon…_

The three of them huddled together and proceeded deeper into the cave. Once they were inside, Milam noticed that the rocks hanging off the ceiling and the walls illuminated the exact emerald green glow as the candle-flame that Liwen held in his hand. The cave became colder and colder the farther in they went, and Milam just couldn't shake off the jingle-like sound of wind chimes that pervaded his mind. If not an actual noise, it must be some effect of the Aether messing with his head; he hoped that the others did not experience such a bothersome disturbance as well. He would've asked, but the phenomenon was just a bit too bizarre for him to put into words.

The inside of the cave was actually much larger than the cleric previously thought. While the entrance was quite huge, eventually the only path deeper in became a narrow passage with a low ceiling, and it sloped gradually downwards; the floor was also quite slippery for some reason. All the while Liwen looked about him in wonder, marveling at the glowing stones that had been affected by the high concentration of Aether waves inside the cave. To Milam, however, they all looked the same — bright luminescent green rocks — and soon he wondered if Liwen could actually differentiate between 'normal' Aether stones and the extraordinarily rare "Dark Mithril" that they were looking for.

"So, Liwen," Milam spoke up once they had walked for about a minute into the cave, "How do you plan on finding this 'Dark Mithril' that we've come so eagerly into this place to search for? All I see so far are green rocks and more green rocks."

"It'll reveal itself when we come close by," Liwen responded. "Or rather, this flame will. Dark Mithril manifests as a blackish gold that has been exposed to constructive interference of Aether Waves for an extended period of time. It will emanate a ton of 'Aether' energy, causing the fire on this candle to rise and become huge within a meter radius of its reach."

 _Huh. Well, he's certainly more well-informed than I thought…_

As they proceeded deeper into the cave, Milam noticed that their surroundings began to change as well. Streams of water ran down the floor by his side; they flowed steadily within a shallow concave at the base of the walls and appeared almost like a tiny river. There were also places where he felt surprising gushes of heat, and it was there that he noticed a few bizarre plants growing upon the floor and the walls.

 _How any plant or animal life can survive in a place so choked with the Aether is beyond me,_ Milam thought to himself.

They resembled cacti, for the plants were spiky and had very straight stems. Some bore bright pink flowers, and strangely enough, these "flowers" stretched like vines all the way up along the walls of the cave, so that they were bigger than the plants themselves. There were also gold-coloured mushrooms whose caps had a unique and interesting curved shape; they looked, funnily enough, almost like sombreros.

All this seemed to add to the lingering certainty that the Aether and its effects were nearby, and before long, Milam became anxious to leave again.

 _A very interesting cave. However, I really don't want to stay inside this place any longer than I have to, so I hope that Liwen knows what he's doing…_

"How do you know that there is even any Dark Mithril in this place at all?" Milam asked suddenly while they walked. "Didn't you say that the metal was extremely rare?"

"Well, I have an inkling that we'll find something," Liwen replied with another slight grin.

 _Stop smiling, you idiot._ Milam sighed. "An inkling. That's great, but I was hoping for maybe something beyond a base suspicion."

Nearby, Kirie seemed to giggle quietly to himself.

 _Like, you know, solid evidence or hard proof of "Dark Mithril" being found inside this place!?_

"Don't you think that it's a bit strange, though?" Liwen asked. "I've never heard any record of this cave in the history of the Realm before, nor any location with such high concentrations of Aether. In previous cases 'Dark Mithril' have all been found in places where the Aether was prominent…that means there must be some of it in here!"

"That's still not proof!" Milam argued. "If we don't find anything in ten minutes, then I'm getting out of here. This cave is starting to creep me out."

 _That jingling sound…it seems to be getting louder and louder…_

"Come on, just bear with me here."

 _No, I won't do that!_ Milam screamed in his mind. _This is a creepy-ass place, and the Aether spells out nothing but trouble._ Liwen turned around and smiled at the cleric again with a sly expression upon his face. _And stop that stupid grin! Do you know how annoying you are? Sometimes I just want to rip your head off…_

"Ten minutes," Milam affirmed.

Eventually they reached a room that was wide and spacious, and here Milam noticed that all the water that had been flowing beside them collected at a small waterfall. Growing beside the waterfall were leafy green bushes that bore bright blue flowers, and as the cleric inspected them he noticed that they were spiky to the touch, just like the cacti-plants he had seen earlier. The room also contained strange red rocks; some were smooth and rounded, while others were awfully uneven and bore sharp, jagged points.

 _How did this place come to be? Is this all the effect of the Aether?_

As he stepped towards the waterfall, Milam thought that the jingling sound in his head became louder than ever, and it was really starting to annoy him. He was almost about to mention it, but was interrupted before he could do so by his younger cousin.

"Hey, Milam," Kirie suddenly spoke up, which surprised the cleric — the boy had been silent ever since they entered the cave. _Then again, Kirie usually is a very quiet person…_

"Do you hear that…jingling noise in your head?"

 _What!? He hears it too!?_

"It's more like footsteps," Liwen responded. "Ever heard the crunching of bones before?"

 _…_

 _Liwen…just shut the fuck up! What are you trying to pull here?_

"Yeah, I've been hearing it ever since I entered this place," Milam said. "It's starting to get on my nerves. Annoying as shi-"

Kirie screamed as he stepped upon something wet and slippery; all of a sudden the boy fell forward and slid down a passage right beside the waterfall. Milam had held onto Kirie's hand tightly the entire time, and the fact that they had just let go sent a wave of panic rushing through his mind. The cleric immediately lunged forward after his younger cousin, but found the floor there extremely wet and slippery as well — almost as if it was made of ice. He plunged down the slope right after Kirie.

"Hey, you guys!" Liwen urged after them. "What's wrong?"

Milam landed with a thump down onto the ground — or, more specifically, onto Kirie's back. He immediately shook himself off and helped the boy up, but that was when the jingling sound in his head seemed to increase tenfold, and he felt that it was getting closer and closer towards him. Not just that, but it seemed to be coming from all around the cave, as if he was being approached by several 'things' — or monsters — or whatever the source of the noise was. Milam felt another chill go down his back as he realized that they might soon be attacked.

They also had no light with them.

The cleric knelt down towards Kirie and hugged him tightly. "Liwen!" Milam shouted in a panic-stricken voice. "Get your fucking ass down here! We've got no light!"

Much to his relief, the gray-robed sorcerer tumbled down the passage a second later with his light in hand, and the room became illuminated.

It was not a second too late, for as soon as the light appeared, Milam saw that they were surrounded by tall, bony humanoid figures with demented faces and hollow eyes — he recognized them immediately as the undead. In an instant the cleric had out his Shadow Wand, and he shot out a warning blast of fire at the creature that stood closest to him. The skeleton monster recoiled a bit, as did the others; Liwen quickly held up the candle so that the room received as much illumination as possible.

"Great. This is fucking great," Milam whispered. "This is what you got us into, Liwen. You and your stupid 'Dark Mithril' — we've got undead coming after us and we haven't even found a clue towards what we're looking for yet!"

Milam looked around him and noticed that the undead seemed a bit different than the ones that he was used to fighting. For one their bones were a dark bluish colour, as if they had somehow been blackened, and also they wore a bright green armor upon their shoulders. Each carried a long bony spear, and the cleric could make out just slightly what appeared to be a dark purple aura surrounding each undead monster.

 _Oh, shit. This seems bad._

"But we have!" Liwen insisted. "Don't you recognize the greenish armor that they're wearing? The undead have covered themselves with Mithril! It's still not 'Dark Mithril', mind you — but this is definitely an indication that we're getting close towards it!"

"Shut up!" Milam responded harshly. "I don't care about finding the 'Mithril' anymore. Let's just get the hell out of here!"

The undead advanced slowly upon him; Milam took the initiative and lunged forward, unsheathing the Ravenheart sword that he had kept upon his belt. The first undead struck at him with its spear, but the cleric was easily able to parry the blow; he then returned the favour and slashed forward with his sword. To his surprise, his blade did not cleave the creature immediately, and the skeleton remained standing — Milam thought this was quite unusual because most undead, due to the brittle nature of their worn-out bones, were fairly susceptible to physical blows in melee combat. _Maybe I just didn't slash hard enough,_ the cleric thought to himself. _It is a bit bizarre for a cleric to wield a sword…_

"Watch out!" Liwen yelled as he drew his dagger. "They're wearing powerful Mithril armor. These guys won't go down easily."

 _Oh, fuck you, Liwen. Fuck you!_

The skeleton backed away; Milam used this to his advantage and slashed forward again, slicing the creature's skull in half and causing the undead to tumble to the ground as a pile of bones. He was not aware that another skeleton had advanced towards him from behind however, and the cleric felt a jab of pain in his shoulder as a spear stabbed through his robes. He spun around and blasted the head of the undead off with a fire spell from his wand, before quickly retreating back towards Kirie and Liwen.

"Things don't look so good," Milam said. "This is all your fault, Liwen. Why don't you go up there and help me fight, for once?"

"You know full well that I can't," the sorcerer responded. "How many times do I have to tell you? Being able to research magic doesn't make me a good spell caster."

"What about that dagger? You can use that, can't you!?"

For once Milam saw a pleading look suddenly appear in Liwen's eyes, something that was quite surprising considering the boy's usual smug confidence.

Finally the sorcerer nodded, and he stood up onto his feet as a skeleton came close to them; the gray-robed boy lashed out with his dagger. The undead was able to parry the blow easily with its spear, and it retaliated with a blow that nearly tipped Liwen off his feet. That was when the dagger in the sorcerer's hand suddenly emitted a strange, bluish glow, before a pulse of light came streaming out and surrounded the undead like a whirlwind of energy.

"What is that!?" Milam asked.

Liwen backed away as the pulsing lights struck the undead over and over again until the creature had disintegrated into a pile of ash. "I told you that these daggers were magical," he replied. The boy suddenly collapsed to the ground and seemed to gasp in pain.

"What!? What's happened to you?" Milam asked as he ran to Liwen's aid.

"They also use up a lot of energy, you know, to an inexperienced magic user!"

Milam turned around and saw that Kirie was now looking at the dagger in his hand — the same one that Liwen had been using — with a worried sort of curiosity.

"That's a problem. You're still going to have to fight a little bit, though, if we're to drive away these undead," Milam responded.

They returned to their feet and braced themselves for the next wave of enemies. It was once again Milam who took the initiative to strike first, and he charged forward with his ravenheart sword. The cleric found himself standing before three undead: two spear-wielding skeletons and also a zombie-like creature. Milam thought the zombie was especially disgusting, for it still had flesh and eyes — both of which drooped and hung off the creature repulsively. It limped forward and tried to claw at the cleric with its hands, but with a slash from Milam's sword the creature's arms had fallen off. Then the priest took out his wand and blasted its body into pieces with a fire spell.

Instantly another skeleton came in to replace the zombie that the cleric had just killed; Milam took a step back and ducked to evade its attack. He then whipped out his ravenheart sword to repel the blow from the other two skeletons' spears, before lashing back at them and beheading the one that had just appeared. The other two continued their attacks upon Milam ceaselessly; they had caught him in a pincer attack and soon the cleric found that he was being backed into a corner. _The problem is that I'm not very good with a sword,_ Milam thought to himself. He tried to retaliate every blow that his opponents landed upon him, but doing so caused him to lose his defense. _If I was a warrior or a knight, I would've been able to fight these two off easily…_ Milam decided to ditch the sword and quickly took out his wand.

At that moment a nearby shriek caught him off-guard, and Milam felt two painful jabs at his chest from the skeletons' bone spears. He recognized the scream as belonging to Liwen, and he turned around to see that the gray-robed boy was being attacked by two horrendous-looking zombies. Like the undead skeletons, the zombies were shrouded in a thick purple veil; no doubt the work of the Aether's strange magics, Milam thought to himself. He saw that one of the zombies was headless — Liwen had probably severed its neck with his dagger — but the other one had grabbed the sorcerer by the arm and was trying to tackle him over. The cleric quickly turned around and deserted his current opponent so that he could go help out his friend.

With a spell from his wand, Milam blasted the headless zombie into smithereens; then he raised his Ravenheart sword up into the air and chopped the other undead into pieces before it could kill Liwen. The sorcerer had tripped and fallen to the ground; Milam pulled him up and looked the boy over to see if he was alright. Liwen had several small cuts upon his arms and face, and his robes were also tattered; he would no doubt need some healing.

"Thanks, I guess," Liwen said while Milam treated his wounds. "I really can't do this, though. I don't know how to fight at all."

"If you're really that incompetent," Milam responded, "then go and stand by Kirie."

At that moment, Kirie came running towards them with his knife in hand. The skeletons that Milam had abandoned earlier had evidently went after the cleric's younger cousin instead; cursing himself for his carelessness, Milam grabbed Kirie by the arm and knelt down to inspect him. The boy had been slashed upon the wrist, but it was only a minor injury — no worse than Liwen's had been. It would've been worse if Milam had not been a cleric; but since he was, a single spell from his tome would be able to fix up the wound. Milam pulled Kirie over and allowed him to stand behind Liwen, before returning to his feet and preparing to finish off his opponents.

Summoning up all his concentration, Milam began to cast the strongest spell that he knew. Once he was ready, the cleric stepped forward and unleashed a blazing bolt of fire towards the skeletons; there came a massive explosion and the entire room lit up. In fact, it lit up so much that many of the stones upon the walls and ceiling of the room began to glow; they emitted the strange, yellowish mist as well as the familiar green luminescence again.

The cleric looked around and saw that there was an odd plant at the center of the room resembling a tree. It had a thick brown trunk as well as strange, web-like leaves; they were a dark teal in colour and hung towards the ground like willows. What bizarre things grow down here…Milam thought to himself. Surrounding this tree were the ashes and remains of all the undead that they had killed; it was a gruesome and unsavoury sight.

Finally the cleric allowed himself to relax, and he sat down onto the ground beside the others. Milam turned around and looked at the path that they had just taken; it was actually moreso a vertical drop than a path, and they had fallen at least a dozen feet into this room. There seemed to be little hope of them getting back up.

"Well, what do we do now?" Milam asked contemptuously.

"We should still find the 'Dark Mithril.' Once we have that, we'll be able to make it out of here easily," Liwen said.

Milam sighed and rolled his eyes. "Still going on about that, aren't you? Don't you realize our current situation? I don't care about the 'Dark Mithril' anymore — I just want to get out of here!"

"And once we find it, we will," Liwen responded. "I've researched the sort of weapons that can be forged with the Mithril. We can make a wand that's literally powerful enough to blast through the surface of the earth…and that'll be our ticket out."

 _That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard…_ Milam thought. He groaned, before looking up at Liwen to see if the sorcerer was actually serious or not; to his surprise, he saw a look of confidence upon Liwen's face. He can't be serious…

"There's no point in staying here," Kirie suggested. "Are you tired, Milam? We can rest for a few moments if you want."

 _I doubt there's any other exit out, though._

"I'm not going to rest until we find the Mithril," Liwen said, and he began heading towards the passage at the other end of the room. "It has to be somewhere inside this cave."

Milam sighed and returned to his feet. "Don't be an idiot and walk off like that," he yelled before chasing after his friend. "This pretty 'Aether Cave' must be infested with undead. Who knows how many other travelers have gone into here before, fell down that hole, and then never found their way out?"

 _It's not a very pretty thought, dying alone and surrounded by undead in this miserable place…_

"Sorry. I just don't like the idea of staying down here for any longer than we have to," Liwen replied. He held up the candle as the group began proceeding their way down the next passage. "You can get your rest later, can't you?"

Easy for you to say, Milam thought.

About ten minutes later, they arrived into another wide and spacious room. Here, Milam noticed that there was a large hole in the wall from which water spewed forth and landed into a pool; _this must be from the waterfall earlier,_ he thought to himself. A few interesting plants grew in the pool: they were green and floated like lotus, but resembled the web-like leaves of the tree in the previous room; a few tiny white star-shaped flowers also grew upon these plants. The water from the pool flowed down a tiny stream in a passage to their left.

"I think I've found it!" Liwen suddenly exclaimed; he held up his candle forward so that the others could see, and indeed the flame upon it was glowing brighter than ever. "There must be some 'Dark Mithril' in this room. I just have to go find it now."

"How are you able to recognize 'Dark Mithril', anyways?" Milam asked as he stepped towards the waterfall and sat down beside it. "It sounds like just a big chunk of rock to me."

"Like I said, it's a blackish-gold colour, though there are variations," Liwen responded. "That includes 'Shadow' Mithril, which is a faded blue in colour, and also 'Black Mithril,' which is simply jet black. All will do, really."

Kirie sat down beside Milam in front of the pool. The boy didn't really say anything; he simply stared down at the ground and closed his eyes. The cleric sighed to himself. He was rather tired and yawned while he stretched out his limbs; in a way, he felt extremely sorry for his younger cousin. _It's because of me that he got dragged into this,_ Milam thought to himself. _I'm not sure about the validity of Liwen's plan — in fact, up until he mentioned it, I've never even heard of this 'Dark Mithril' before. If it doesn't work, we might be stuck down here forever._

Milam turned around and leaned his head against the wall. He looked at Kirie for a few seconds, admiring the boy's calmness and stoic determination — something that was quite rare for most children of his age. _Damn it. If I could just get him out, then I'd be happy dying down here. Not that I want to, anyways._ He folded his arms and turned towards Liwen, noticing that the sorcerer was avidly searching the walls of the cave for the 'Dark Mithril' that he was looking for. Milam turned back towards Kirie, and then he closed his eyes. _I just need to keep Kirie safe, that's all. That's what my goal has always been, ever since he came to me that day…_

He was not really sure of what happened afterwards; he must've dosed off while listening to the water falling into the pool. That was one thing Milam always felt fond of — the sound of water. He loved the waves on the beach as well as the cascading of waterfalls; the cleric didn't really know why, but he always found himself somewhat attuned to those sounds. Listening to water flowing always seemed to calm him down, and as he did so in the cave beside that small waterfall, he began to think about things, hazy things that clouded his mind in the state where he drifted between the conscious and unconscious; when he was sleeping and yet also half-awake.

* * *

 _I must've…softened up a bit in the days that followed when I took Kirie in._

 _Fighting and traveling in the Realm brought me freedom and glory, but I must've realized one day that there really wasn't any purpose to it all. Fighting for oneself — for the benefit of becoming stronger — no, in the end I wasn't satisfied leading that kind of life. I wanted…I guess, to protect someone, to feel love and to be loved. That was more rewarding, and in the end, more purposeful. It gave me a reason to continue on._

 _Maybe Kirie used to be spoiled and immature, but his days spent alone in the Realm must have made him…well, the quiet and reserved child that he is today. I remember what happened when I first took him in. It was what — April, May? I don't know — it must've been around four months ago, though. I remember because it was raining. It never rains in the Realm, not unless Oryx decides to come pay us a visit. We were still at Nexus then._

 _The town square at Nexus was a beautiful place. I stood alone upon the wooden bridge that day as it poured, and my hair and clothes were all wet. Kirie was completely drenched, too — he was the only other person with me. Actually he stood below the bridge, beside that lotus pond. There was that pink cherry tree in the garden beside him, too, and the rain made all of the flowers fall to the ground. He just kind of sat there beside the pond, twiddling with a small pink leaf in his hand, and then he looked up at me and smiled shyly._

 _I don't know why but at that moment I felt like we needed to stay together. It must've been the rain or the loneliness. Everyone had already left to go and fight Oryx, but I remained behind because…well, I guess I was too afraid to go and fight the Mad God. Us two…Kirie and I were the only two human souls in Nexus that day, and it was pouring so hard. I heard thunder up in the skies, but I didn't care…I just stood there, watching Kirie, and I reveled in the solitude…_

 _I don't even remember how that day ended. But afterwards, I just felt like…well…_

 _Hmm…_

 _Umm…yes?_

 _What?_

 _…_

* * *

Milam awoke to the sound of someone playing the flute. He thought the melody was familiar; it was Kirie, and the boy had brought the flute along with him (well, there was no point in leaving it behind on the beach, anyways). It was that nostalgic tune, the one that filled him up with a bittersweet, homely sort of happiness; he was surprised that his younger cousin knew the song as well. _I didn't even know that he could play the flute at all…_ Milam thought to himself.

"Hey, you know that melody, too?"

Kirie looked up and smiled at him. "I heard you humming it absent-mindedly a while ago."

 _Oh, well, that explains it. Still…it was a nice way to wake me up…especially since we're still inside this dark and miserable cave.._

Milam looked around him. "By the way, where's Liwen?" He saw that the candle had been placed in the middle of the room to provide light, but the sorcerer was nowhere in sight.

 _Why would he leave like that without waking me up?_

"He's not very far of-"

At that moment Liwen suddenly came running back into the room, and there was a look of panic upon his face. "Milam! Milam! Wake up!" He cried.

 _I am awake, you idiot._ "What is it?"

Two figures suddenly emerged from out of the passage up ahead, and upon seeing how monstrous they looked Milam immediately jumped to his feet with his wand in hand. One was a big floating Gargoyle, for it had imp-like wings and wielded a jagged blue fork-shaped dagger; Milam noticed that there was a cut upon Liwen's shoulder and the dagger was covered in a bit of blood. The other was just a giant floating skull covered in black scales, and a bright violet flame burned upon its forehead; a small curved sword floated beside it, ruby-red in colour and wreathed in a veil of dark purple energy.

"Those weapons that they're using — they're Dark Mithril," Liwen whispered. "This is going to be trouble."

 _Damn it, Liwen! Why does everything you bring always have to be full of trouble?_

"Stand back," Milam whispered. It was the skull that attacked first; the mysterious-looking creature flew forward and tried to ram its flaming head into Liwen. The Cleric quickly intercepted the monster's path and blasted the creature with a bolt of lightning from his wand. It reeled away in pain for a few seconds, but then the sword floating beside it suddenly turned around and sliced down towards Milam in an arc. The blade cut cleanly through the cloth of the Elder Robe upon his left arm, and the cleric cried out in pain. There was also something magical about the blade, for he felt a dark and invasive energy suddenly seethe through his wound, and it made his arm feel as if it was beginning to rot.

The cleric took out his sword and attempted to deflect the next blow from the floating sword, only to find a jabbing pain in his side as the Gargoyle lashed out at him with its dagger. Milam found himself caught in a pincer attack; he quickly backed away from the two monsters and began concentrating upon a spell. That was when the skull returned, and it pummeled the cleric's shoulder, throwing him into a wall.

There came suddenly a flash of light from behind the monsters, and Milam was given just enough time to return to his feet and navigate himself out of the pincer attack. He looked behind him and saw Kirie standing up with Liwen's magical knife in hand. The boy shuddered a bit — Milam knew that the spell must've been draining him of his energy — and then Kirie collapsed to the floor. A second later the knife leaped by itself into the air, before exploding into a stream of white lights that flew towards the skull and wreathed the creature in its brilliant energy. At that moment the floating sword fell to the ground — as if the magic controlling it had disappeared — and then the skull, slain by the whirlwind of light, disintegrated into ashes.

 _Wow…that knife sure is powerful. I wonder how Liwen was able to create it?_

All that was left now was the Gargoyle. The creature hissed, before flying up into the air and then diving towards Milam with its dagger pointed at the cleric's throat. Milam quickly sidestepped out of the way, before casting a spell that set the gargoyle's wings on fire. The monster shrieked in pain and began to fall towards the floor; an instant later, Liwen ran towards the creature and flung his own knife at its head. The magical knife stabbed the gargoyle through its face, and then — with another burst of magical energy — the creature turned into dust as well.

 _Glad that's over with._

While Milam took out his tome and began healing his injured arm, Liwen ran towards the remains of the floating sword as well as the gargoyle's dagger and quickly collected them into his hands.

"The dagger's Dark Mithril…pure Dark Mithril. And the sword's shadow Mithril, which will do fine as well."

Milam nodded. "Good — you've finally found what we've been looking for. Now, can you make the weapon that you seem so ecstatic about?"

The sorcerer nodded. "Yes, I'll do it right away. Just give me your Bulwark wand."

* * *

The process took Liwen little over an hour. He seemed to cast a few strange spells from a couple of bottles that he took out of his bag — the sorcerer explained to Milam that they were special 'magic-in-a-vial' bottles — which turned the Dark and Shadow Mithril into a liquid, and then he poured them over the Bulwark Wand. Minutes later the wand had gained a bright golden colour — befitting of his name, which Milam remembered to be 'Gold Whisker' - and then Liwen handed it back to the Cleric.

"I've researched the kinds of magical properties that this weapon will contain," the sorcerer explained as Milam took it into his hands. "I've given it a new and unique ability. You can create various kinds of barriers with it."

The Cleric began experimenting in accordance to Liwen's instructions.

The first is a Blue shield, which protects against weapons and physical blows from your enemies. The Red barrier wards off magical attacks. A yellow barrier is like the opposite of a Mystic's Stasis — it actually speeds you up. A green barrier acts as a mirror that bounces back projectiles fired towards you. And finally the purple barrier is like a half-paladin's seal in which standing under it will allow you to regenerate your wounds."

 _This is really quite neat! I never knew that Liwen was such a genius at creating new spells and weapons…_ Milam thought as he experimented with all the barriers. _I guess all the research he did paid off._

"Now, let's test out its power. This is Dark Mithril, though, so beware…"

Put that into perspective, damn it! "How powerful are we talking about?" Milam asked.

"Well, a Mithril Sword is about two or three percent Dark Mithril. This wand, however, is thirty percent 'Dark Mithril', so expect it to be between ten and fifteen times more powerful than the slice of a Mithril Sword."

…

"Stand back!" Milam pointed his wand up at the wall. He thought of a light spell — a single blast of energy — and quickly unleashed it through the 'Gold Whisker'. An instant later there was a massive explosion as a ray of energy completely disintegrated the rock that formed the crust of the earth. A few blasts later, and Milam had just carved a path leading out the cave; granted, it was rather steep, but a lot of sunlight shone through from above.

Milam collapsed to the floor. "Damn, that took a lot of energy," he whispered to himself.

He couldn't wait to get out of the Aether Cave.


	7. ROTMG SEQUEL:NOVEL VII

**RotMG Sequel: Chapter VII**

 **Warning: This story contains adult content.**

It was early morning when Milam, Kirie, and Liwen came out of the Aether Cave; evidently, the three of them had spent the entire night inside that place. Milam couldn't have felt gladder to see sunlight and wide open space again; he had particularly detested his experience down in that dark and undead-infested pit. For one, the cleric didn't like the idea of prolonged exposure to the Aether; even with Liwen's magical candle-flame protecting them, he had felt unnatural chills and a strange sort of mental weariness while he was down in the cave.

 _At least I was able to get something useful out of this journey,_ Milam thought to himself. _Liwen was right about the power of this weapon. In the end, it might have all been worth it._

The cleric had rushed forward out of the darkness and saw that he was surrounded by wide open plains. He had literally tore the surface of the earth open and dug a hole out of the ground. Now he stood amidst fields of lush grass, and in the west, he could still see the ocean, so he knew that they had not gone too far. Milam found the scenery surprisingly familiar. It appeared to be a meadow of sorts — the place was covered in wildflowers, and the grass beneath his feet was wet with morning dew — and in the distance, he could see the outlines of tall mountains. There also appeared to be some sort of a forest beyond the plains.

 _Haven't I come here before?_

"Liwen!" Milam yelled to the gray-robed boy that stood behind him, "We've gone quite far to the north. This place looks like the Euryon Highlands."

"Where exactly in the highlands?" The Sorcerer responded.

"Looks like the entrance to the Blue Wood, actually. This place isn't too far from where my previous 'hunt' had brought me." Milam looked in the distance towards a wide range of hills; he remembered that, not too far from here, just a few days ago he had fought a tough battle against the Nightmares that roamed the region. _I wonder if the Crystal Prisoner is still here?_

"Something bothering you?" Liwen asked as he and Kirie stepped towards the cleric.

"No, not really." A cool wind blew into Milam's face, and he felt the weaving of the tall grasses around his feet; the cleric looked up into the sky and saw that gray clouds were arriving in the distance, which would soon screen out the sunlight. He could also hear — very faintly — the drifting of the ocean waves to the west, for as Milam observed his surroundings he noticed that they currently stood upon a sloped bank that led downwards to the beach.

 _Priorities, now. What's first? I would imagine that Artem and his nasty crew need to be taken care of down at Dale's Port. I might need a team of travelers to help me do that, though — those 'Ancients' are quite strong. Now, where can I get myself some allies?_

The cleric turned around towards Liwen and folded his arms. "What do you suppose we do?" He asked.

"I don't know. What do you want to do?" Liwen turned to look at Kirie — who stood beside him — for a few seconds, but the boy remained as expressionless as ever.

"Returning to Dale's Port is out of the question," Milam replied. "I'm not sure how powerful these 'Ancients' are — nor what may be their intentions — but I won't attempt to defeat them by myself. We'll need a sizable group of travelers first before we can attack them."

 _There's one able-bodied person I have in mind, personally…_

The cleric began walking east towards the hills. He remembered that his confrontation with the Nightmares had taken place inside a valley at the entrance of the Blue Wood; it was on a plain stretch of land — a meadow of sorts — that lay beneath the tallest hill within the area. There the ground was wet and marsh-like, and he recalled especially the desolation of the region: there had been a lack of trees for miles around on the barren plains. Milam also remembered the bitter chill in the air, which was to be expected — his current location then had been quite near to the Snow Plains of the north.

"Where are you going?" Liwen asked as he pursued after the cleric with Kirie.

"To deal with 'unfinished' business, of course," Milam responded. "Remember the Crystal Prisoner?"

"Yes, what about it?"

"I didn't kill it yet — I bet the creature still roams the highlands. If I can find a group fighting it, and if I help the group kill the Crystal Prisoner…"

 _Then maybe I can get some allies to come with me to Dale's Port to take on those "Ancients"!_

Milam turned around and smiled at the gray-robed sorcerer. "With this new wand, I'm probably one of the most powerful people in the Realm."

The cleric saw Liwen gain a smirk upon his face as well. "And who do you have to thank for that?" The sorcerer asked.

"You, of course!"

They made their way up the hills and then, for the rest of the day, journeyed eastwards. For the most part the group stayed upon the border of the hills; in fact, Milam purposely chose the edge of the highest cliffs in the region to be the main bulk of their journey. The height there allowed an excellent view of the surroundings, and before long the cleric was able to sight small groups of adventurers wandering within the area. He noticed that most of them headed north towards the Blue Wood, no doubt to participate in the battle against the Crystal Prisoner. _At least, that's what I hope they're doing. The monster couldn't have been slain yet, right?_

Their pace was quite fast, although Liwen did remark more than once that the path Milam followed was quite dangerous. Staying at the edge of a cliff obviously meant that the group would be left at a disadvantage if they were attacked by monsters, especially aerial ones; thus they stuck close together in order to be able to look out for each other. Fortunately the terrain was not too tough for them to maneuver through, so they had no fear of accidentally falling off the cliff while they ran. To deal with the monster problem, the cleric considered casting a barrier spell over the group with his new wand, but decided against doing so since it would cost him too much energy, and he was already quite tired from his ordeal down in the Aether cave.

Indeed, fatigue proved a problem for Milam as he ran throughout the afternoon. It had been two days since he was able to have any proper rest; ever since he arrived back at Dale's Port and learned of the conflicts with the charity, the cleric had been constantly out on the run. Granted, he was able to get a couple hours of sleep down in that Aether Cave by the flower-pond, but considering what his situation had been then, Milam would hardly consider that to be proper rest. So it wasn't too surprising when he began to feel a weariness in his limbs by mid-afternoon, and he began to slow down his run. _Come to think of it, the others haven't had that much rest either,_ Milam thought to himself. _Maybe we should stop pushing ourselves so hard._

When evening came Milam decided to stop and take a break as they neared the next hill. He took out dinner from his backpack — a sandwich with eggs and lettuce - and ate it almost ravenously. They were running a bit short on water, though; Milam had given some of his water to Kirie, and what was left hardly helped to quench his thirst. As they ate the cleric looked out over the edge of the cliff and saw a large stream below him which snaked its way through the canyons in between the tall hills; likely it was one of the many rivers that trailed towards the Great Cataract in the south. Up ahead, the Blue Wood loomed dark and ominous over the region with its tall and thick trees, and it appeared a massive splash of darkness amidst the surrounding ocean of green.

"We're here," Milam said once he was done eating his dinner. "I think we've made it to the exact spot I had camped at on the night before my battle with the 'Nightmares.' The Crystal Prisoner shouldn't be very far off from here."

As he said that, the cleric noticed a sudden look of fear and anxiety appear in Kirie's eyes, but it quickly disappeared. The boy walked towards Milam and sat down beside him.

"…I might have to go into battle tomorrow. Are you going to be okay, Kirie?"

His younger cousin looked up at him and shrugged. "I'm not that fragile, Milam. I can take care of myself while you're gone."

The cleric turned towards Liwen. "What about you?"

The gray-robed boy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'll stay here and watch over Kirie. The battle shouldn't be too difficult for you with your new wand."

 _It shouldn't be. I've heard that the Crystal Prisoner is just slightly more powerful than a Cube God or a Skull Shrine. To a normal traveler that might sound frightening, but to me…_

"We'll watch from a distance. You should be easily visible with your new spells of mass destruction," Liwen added.

Milam nodded. He sighed and then laid himself down upon the soft, grassy ground, feeling for the first time in a long while a sense of peace and tranquility; permission, if he could call it that, to have some proper rest.

 _Hmmm. I hope I don't get too cocky, though. I still have a battle tomorrow!_

Thoughts of his newfound power drifted through his mind as fatigue began to make Milam's eyes weary; he stretched out his arms and legs into a comfortable position and before long, fell asleep.

* * *

 _Not long ago, power was the only thing I ever desired. That's something that happens to every person in this Realm. We woke up in a foreign world, one dominated by monsters and things trying to kill us, and then we realize that the only way we could ever survive was by havingpower. That's why our economy and our social structure in this Realm is all based on one's fame and experience. Vets have the best equipment and the most skill in battle, so they are naturally at the top of the power hierarchy. Suddenly, wealth is no longer paper money, but now a status of sorts, and people can only prove their status through battle…_

 _But there's something lately that I've begun to realize. I think I first began to understand it that day on the cliffs by the beach, about three months ago, when Kirie and I were on our way to Dale's Port. I still remember that day quite clearly. We had walked for hours across the plains, and our feet were sore and the two of us were really tired and hungry. We stopped by the cliff, out in the middle of nowhere, and after eating a scant dinner I decided to take a short nap. When I awoke it was already dusk, and I saw Kirie sitting on top of the hill overlooking the beach, and there was the most beautiful sunset in the background. The sky was ablaze with streaks of purple and orange, and the clouds looked like they were covered in flames._

 _I sat down beside Kirie to watch the sun descend behind the horizon, and then we talked. Well, it was mostly me talking and Kirie listening. He did ask an interesting question, though. I don't remember it exactly, but it was something along the lines of, well…'Hey, Milam, do you have any goals in this world? I mean, like, long-term goals? Or maybe even a purpose?'"_

 _You know, after spending two months fighting and traveling in the Realm, I eventually began to realize something — what was the point of it all? We kill monsters so that we may survive — that makes sense — but no matter how many we kill, there will always be more. Similarly, every time we defeat Oryx, he always comes back. It's a cycle of us rising against the Mad God, toppling him, and then rising against him again. Sure, we may acquire power, fame, and glory for ourselves — but in the long-term, isn't all of it meaningless if we are all just trapped in an eternal cycle of fighting and death?_

 _So I sat upon the cliff that day, talking to Kirie while watching the sunset and listening to the ocean waves below…and then I began to understand the pointlessness of it all. Maybe that was why I eventually gave up my life of freedom and instead resigned myself to become Kirie's protector. That was at least a more useful goal. I must've learned that killing for fame and glory achieves nothing…but fighting to protect someone — that's never futile._

* * *

"Well, what do we have here? I never expected you to find you again."

Milam's eyes snapped open and he shot upright. Standing in front of him was a familiar curly-haired huntress: no doubt it was Claire. She stood with her hands upon her hips and a Blood Bow upon her back; there was a smug expression on her face as she stared down at the cleric.

"Oh, you again?" The cleric responded simply.

Suddenly, Milam heard what he thought to be shouts of battle in the distance. That was when he also noticed that Claire was hurt; she had a few cuts upon her forehead as well as her arms. It was currently nighttime, for the skies were dark and a full moon hung above their heads; Milam quickly scrambled to his feet and grabbed his tome as well as his wand.

"You're certainly not here for leisure purposes. Come to help out with the battle?" Claire asked.

Milam nodded. "Sure thing." He looked back and noticed that Liwen was already awake; he lay beside Kirie with his hands behind his head. _Liwen has that magical knife with him as well as those magic-in-a-vial bottles. He should be okay if I just leave for a few hours._

The cleric raised his golden wand up into the air. A second later a purple barrier appeared around Claire and himself, and the Huntress noticed that her wounds were beginning to regenerate.

"What's this?" She whispered in surprise as they made their way down the hill towards the site of battle.

"Let's just say I know well enough about what the Aether can do…" Milam responded with a smirk upon his face.

Claire gasped, and she grabbed the stone from out of her pocket. "So…you know what this is?"

 _I wasn't even expecting you to pull that out, but thanks for confirming my suspicions._ The cleric nodded. "My friend has done a bit of research on it. Weapons forged from 'Dark Mithril' — which is basically gold that has been infused with lots of Aether magic — are extremely powerful and contain new magical properties. This wand is an example."

"Ah." Claire tucked the stone away into her pocket, but she took it out a second later once they saw that the battle lay just ahead. A large group stood at the bottom of the valley, and it consisted of a wide variety of travelers — they were mainly warriors, wizards, paladins, archers, priests, and knights. They were currently fighting against four or five creatures that looked somewhat like jesters; they wore red robes, had huge black claws for hands, and the hair upon their heads looked like big poofy purple hats.

"That's the Crystal Prisoner?" Milam asked. "And why are there so many of them?"

"Clones," Claire responded. "This creature has the annoying ability of being able to create multiple copies of itself."

 _So it's a trickster enemy, huh?_

Claire nudged Milam upon the shoulder. "Well, why don't you show them the power of your new 'Aether-forged' wand?"

The cleric nodded. "Don't mind if I do!"

Milam raised his wand into the air and, remembering Liwen's instructions to him earlier, quickly summoned up a red and a blue barrier. Claire stared in wonder as the two colourful shields appeared around herself; they looked like domes, and she could feel the raw magical energy pulsating through them. It reminded her of the Aether stone that she held in her hand, for their power sources were nearly identical.

"I don't want to start causing flashy explosions just yet," Milam whispered to his companion. "Why don't we wait until the real Crystal Prisoner has been identified first?"

The Huntress nodded. "I'll help you with that."

The two charged right into the fray of the battle, and soon Milam found himself standing amidst a sea of bodies fighting off against the Crystal Prisoners. Claire pointed her stone at the one nearest to them, and as she began casting her spell, the cleric could feel the air around the Huntress becoming hot and tense. A moment later a giant ball of fire appeared in front of her hands, and Claire launched it at her target; there came a shriek of surprise from the Crystal Prisoner as the fireball blasted through its body, resulting in a massive explosion and causing a crater to appear on the floor. Once all the smoke had cleared, the two saw that the Crystal Prisoner was nowhere in sight; their target had indeed been a mere clone.

"Next one!" The Huntress yelled, and they moved across the battlefield under Milam's magical barriers. This time Claire summoned up a bolt of ice and shot it through the next Crystal Prisoner's chest; her target screamed in pain for a few seconds before once again vanishing into thin air. Milam looked around him and saw that there were still three Crystal Prisoners left; that meant two of them were clones and only one was real. He decided to wait for the group to find out the identity of the real Crystal Prisoner.

A wizard and a Mystic stood nearby one of the possible Prisoners; they raised their staffs up into the air and blasted the creature with a stream of purple and white bolts. The clone fell pummeled to the floor, and then it disappeared. In another location, a knight and an archer were currently facing off against one of the last two prisoners; the archer struck first, unleashing a stream of green arrows towards his target. However, he had accidentally gotten too close and the Crystal Prisoner, enraged, pounced forward and smashed its gigantic fist into the archer's face. The poor man fell lifelessly to the floor, which incited cries of pity and rage from other travelers. Instantly the clone was bombarded with magical bullets from nearby priests and wizards, and then the knight lunged forward and thrust his sword straight through the back of the monster's head. There was a snap, and then the clone disappeared into thin air as well.

 _We've found our target!_

All eyes were now turned towards the last Crystal Prisoner, who stood at the center of the fray. The monster suddenly threw its hand up into the air and began laughing ghoulishly; even Milam was slightly disturbed by the way it seemed so confident. An instant later there came a flash of greenish light, and everyone darted back to avoid being burned; then the Crystal Prisoner began growing in size, its body enlarging until the creature was nearly the size of a house. There was a silence. Every traveler nearby gazed at the monster, fixated to the spot in terror. Five, ten seconds passed; then all hell broke lose as everyone turned around and began running for their lives.

The few that remained attempted to defend themselves, but to no avail. Laughing at their futility, the Crystal Prisoner scooped up a Paladin and a Necromancer before crushing them into pulp with its giant hands. Then the monster stepped forward and threw the remains of the two bodies into a crowd of frenzied travelers, bowling several of them over.

 _Alright, enough of this bullshit!_

Milam stepped forward — purposefully in front of the Crystal Prisoner, so that everybody could see — and then began summoning up all his concentration for his next spell. The monster laughed, before slamming its fist down on top of them — only to be stopped by the sudden appearance of a blue barrier. The Crystal Prisoner darted back in surprise; and its hand seemed to writhe about in pain. Next it conjured up a ball of fire and launched it at Milam, but this time a red barrier appeared around him and the fireball vanished into nothingness.

 _You won't kill a single other person!_

The cleric stepped forward and pointed his wand at his target. _This will hit with the force of a hundred Mini Novas,_ he thought to himself, before unleashing the spell.

What came forth was a massive bolt of lightning wreathed in a swirling barrier of flames; it struck the Crystal Prisoner square upon its chest, and with a painful scream, the creature was thrown a hundred feet up into the air. Streaks of white lightning coursed through its body, and then the monster burst into flames, so that it looked like a giant burning rag doll hanging up in the night sky; the Crystal Prisoner landed upon the ground seconds later and exploded into massive streams of flashing light.

The crowd had stopped running away, and now all of them were staring at the remains of the Crystal Prisoner in awe. Out of the explosions came forth several artifacts, and Milam found a long white sword falling into his hands; he thought at first that he would immediately drop it, but instead felt surprised at how light the object was. The sword had a brilliant blue blade and a dark purple hilt; it was almost as light as a feather, but also appeared to be awfully sharp as well.

"That's a Crystal Sword, isn't it?" Claire whispered. "I've heard about it in legends before. 'Crystals charged with high concentrations of Aether', that's what they called it; then the crystal had to be melted in Godland lava before being forged into a sword through magical means."

 _Another Aether weapon!? Wow…I'm becoming more and more powerful with each passing day…_

"Now, now, don't get too cocky," Claire continued. "You're a cleric. Think you can actually use a sword?"

Milam swung it through the air. "Better than you think. I've used a Ravenheart before, you know." He suddenly heard stampeding footsteps behind him, followed by cries of victory from the surrounding crowd. _Oh, dammit. They're all going to want to meet the guy who slew the Crystal Prisoner._

 _Meeting a group wouldn't be bad…then again, I don't particularly like being "Mister Popular"…_

 _…_ _Maybe I'll deal with them later._

The cleric turned towards Claire and sighed. "Let's get out of here," he whispered. "I actually have a favour to ask you."

The two of them quickly escaped out of sight and back into the hills.

* * *

"So have you heard about what's been happening in Dale's Port?" Milam asked while they ran. "Or, well, have the news spread yet?"

The Huntress nodded. "Charity there's corrupt and rotten to the core, it seems. Actually the owners of the charity have taken over and began running the place like some dictator state. Their leader, Artem, is making everyone build a giant statue or something.

*Wow, so the news _do_ spread quite fast in this world.*

"No one's allowed in or out of the town, either."

Milam grimaced. "That's terrible," he responded. "Isn't anyone going to do something about it?"

Claire shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe the vets are planning something, but I'm not one; why don't you go ask them?"

With a sigh, Milam asked, "Are there any vets in that group back there?"

The Huntress nearly laughed. "In that puny little group? Of course not! Otherwise we'd have taken down the Crystal Prisoner long ago."

 _I see. It wouldn't do to take that group with me back to Dale's Port, then._

"…You know, I have some personal issues with that charity," Milam said. "That's why I just want to return to the town and blow that place up. With this new wand, I think I might be able to do it. But…I'll need to bring a group, or at least someone competent with me, first."

Claire turned around and smiled at the cleric. "I know of a few veterans in Dale's Port. I'm sure they won't just sit around and let Artem and his 'charity crew' run things either. Why don't you consult them?"

 _Veterans, huh? Like BMJ and McFarvo…people like them definitely won't go down without a fight._

"Of course, I'll accompany you too," Claire added. "I want to get down to the bottom of this as well. It must all be another part of Oryx's Nightmare."

 _What!?_

The Huntress smirked. "It's an esoteric thing. Few people like me actually know the truth of what's been going on in this Realm."

"The truth? What is it?" Milam asked.

Claire shook her head. "You won't believe it even if I told you," she replied. "No one's believed me about it yet, actually."

Before Milam could say anything, the two of them saw that they had now arrived at the top of the hill. The cleric was quickly approached by Liwen and Kirie — and Milam couldn't have felt happier to see that they were alive and unharmed — and Liwen especially commented on how great the Cleric's spell was. "You could probably tear open a mountain with that kind of firepower," the gray-robed sorcerer remarked. "We were able to see it easily from this vantage point. The battle must've been a breeze."

Kirie, on the other hand, noticed more the Huntress that stood beside his older cousin.

"Hello," Claire said as she waved at the two of them. "Are you friends of Milam?"

Liwen and Kirie nodded.

"This is my new companion, and she'll be heading back to Dale's Port with us," Milam said. "Claire has an Aether stone with her and thus can use magic. She'll definitely be a big help in reclaiming our town from the Ancients."

Upon hearing about the Aether Stone, Liwen suddenly folded his arms. "An Aether stone? Where did you find that?"

The Huntress took the glowing green rock out of her pocket. "In the mines west of Amerdoth, of course. Surprised?"

The gray-robed sorcerer narrowed his eyes. "I thought there was only one major 'Aether' deposit in the entirety of the Realm, though…"

 _He must mean the one that we just came out of,_ Milam thought to himself.

"The Aether will appear whenever Oryx's dreams go awry, and he begins to have Nightmares," Claire responded. She seemed amused by the perplexed looks on the faces of Milam and Liwen as she spoke. "There must be tons of 'Aether deposits' out there that nobody has found yet. But once we get rid of all of Oryx's Nightmares, the Mad God will come back to his senses and they'll all disappear."

"What 'Nightmares' are you talking about?" Liwen asked. "None of what you're saying makes any sense."

"Hmmm. I'll explain it to you while we walk."

At Milam's urging, the group began heading down the other side of the hill; they were now preparing to head south back towards Dale's Port.

"None of you will believe me when I say this, but this world is Oryx's dream," Claire said while they walked. "We're all a collective part of his consciousness. In this world there are monsters and magic, which don't normally exist in real life; but they do exist in dreams and we were brought into this Realm to be a part of it."

 _A dream, huh? That sounds preposterous. What is Claire up to now?_

"But dreamers do get Nightmares sometimes, and when that happens, Oryx loses control over this Realm. That's when the Aether appears to spread all this chaos, which is why there are occasionally people or items that disappear into thin air. But sometimes these 'Nightmares' take physical manifestation, and they become monsters that actually try to take over the Realm for themselves. That Crystal Prisoner was one such example." Claire turned towards Milam and nodded at him. "And I assume those 'Ancients' whom you mentioned earlier must be another one of Oryx's Nightmares as well."

For a few seconds, no one spoke up, and there was silence as they walked.

"Really, Claire? A dream? That's your theory on what this Realm is?"

 _Come to think of it…this does make some sense, I guess. It would certainly explain why magic exists in this Realm, but not in the world that we came from in our past lives…_

"You certainly don't have to believe in it," Claire responded with a smirk upon her face. She looked towards Liwen and saw that the gray-robed boy had a confused look upon his face as well. "Well, forget about everything I just said. Let's just concentrate upon our task at hand."

They had now reached the bottom of the hill, and a vast and barren plain lay before them. Milam felt a cool breeze blow through the night air, and it made him feel chilly; he quickly wrapped his arms around himself for warmth and pulled his coat up tighter.

"Where — and how - would you come up with that, though?" Liwen asked. He seemed to want to press the Huntress for more information about it.

"I had an encounter with Oryx once, and he told me all about this world."

 _Oryx!?_

"That doesn't sound very likely, Claire. I wouldn't think that Oryx is the type to…converse rather than brutally slaughter."

"Like I said, it's just my theory, and you don't have to believe in it," Claire replied. "Maybe if you could find the time to ask Oryx himself about it one day, then you'd understand."

Liwen sighed. He folded his arms slightly and seemed to look away from the Huntress as he walked.

 _A dream, huh?_ Milam pondered to himself as he walked. In the distance, the sun was beginning to rise, and dawn would soon arrive to replace the darkness of the night sky. Since they were currently in the Northern region of the Euryon Highlands, the group still had quite a distance to go before they would reach their destination.

"It'll take us about two days to arrive at Dale's Port," Milam commented.

They walked on in silence throughout the rest of the night.


	8. ROTMG SEQUEL:NOVEL VIII

**RotMG Sequel: Chapter VIII**

 **Warning: This story contains adult content.**

The group arrived back at the entrance of Dale's Port about two days later. The sky was bright and cloudless that morning, and there was a calm breeze in the air — Milam could smell fresh ocean scents from the sea to the south, a reminder of the days he had spent back in the town. Lately he had begun to view his return to Dale's Port as very much a liberation mission rather than exacting personal revenge; he had learned more about the charity's corruption from passing travelers, and now it seemed that no one was allowed to leave the city. The few that did escaped barely alive, and they were traveling far and wide to spread word of the new terror that pervaded the Realm.

Now that I think about it, I do kind of miss this place and my own house, Milam thought to himself. I guess that's the effect a long journey can have on you — you start to miss old and familiar places.

Kirie seemed a bit flustered as the group neared the entrance gate of Dale's Port. "I know it sounds selfish, but I don't want to go back to this town."

"No, it's perfectly understandable," Milam responded. He turned around to face Kirie, and was met with anxious eyes in response. The boy backed away until he stood a fair distance away from the rest of the group.

"You know, Liwen, you're not exactly the helpful type when we go marching into battle," The cleric continued, turning around this time to face the gray-robed sorcerer. "Why don't you leave with Kirie?"

The brown-haired boy bit his lip and folded his arms. "So, I'm just dead weight to you?"

"Shut up. You know perfectly well what I mean," Milam said, and he gave Liwen a slight push upon the shoulder. "Hell is going to break loose in this town when I return. You don't want to get caught up in the flames, do you?"

Liwen shrugged and rolled his eyes. "When are you going be done, then?"

"How should I know? Maybe I'll send a signal of some sorts once I've affirmed that I've dealt with these 'Ancients.'"

The sorcerer reached into his pocket and pulled another one of his colourful magic-in-a-vial bottles. They all looked like lava lamps, though this one was comprised of bubbles that formed a strange greenish-blue colour.

"This one emits a rather bright light when heated," Liwen said with a bit of a wry smile upon his face. "Don't open it up though, or you'll fall unconscious. Once I see the rainbow lights flying above the city, I'll know to come back."

Milam turned around and saw that Claire was starting to get impatient. She already had her Aether Stone out in her hand and looked anxiously ready to use it.

"You have some interesting inventions with you," Milam responded as he took the vial away from the sorcerer. "I didn't even know that something like 'Magic-in-a-vial' even existed."

"Don't forget that it was my inventions that forged your wand," Liwen said with a sly look upon his face. "And my knowledge, too. If you succeed at the slaying the Ancients, make sure to give me some of the credit."

"Of course, of course," Milam replied sarcastically. _Well, I have to admit that he's right. Without Liwen's help, I wouldn't have been able to get my hands on this powerful wand._

"Hurry up!" Claire called to the cleric. "I want to see what's been happening inside this town. Are we ready to go yet?"

Milam sighed. "Wait a sec!" He called out to the huntress; he had just one last question to ask the sorcerer. "Where are you going to take Kirie, anyways?"

"Somewhere out on the Highlands, I guess. It won't be very far from this town — a hill away, at most."

"But there will be monsters there!"

Liwen reached into his pocket and retrieved several more vials as well as the magical knife from within his coat. "I'm not so defenseless as you might think."

The cleric nodded. "Alright, then. Make sure to protect Kirie well."

 _Damn it! Just a few months ago, I had made it my goal to protect Kirie, but now I'm entrusting him into someone else's hands…well, maybe just this once, I'll have to put my faith in Liwen. It won't take long before I get back — I'll have to promise myself that._

 _Plus, Kirie himself isn't so weak either._

Milam turned around and walked through the front gate. "Alright, Claire. Let's get this over with."

The first thing that the cleric saw when he entered the city stunned him; towering high over all the buildings was the statue of an orange creature that looked strangely familiar — it had a lion-like body and an almost human-looking head. The name of the statue came to him about a second later — it was a Sphinx. The creature wore a strange black-and-blue fez upon its head, and the Sphinx's eyes were made of gold. Milam was surprised at how life-like the thing looked — for a moment he almost thought that it was real.

 _That would be bad, if this thing was real. It could crush all of us with a single step…_

The two quickly hurried towards what they had planned to be their first destination — the town square, to see what had happened there. They were met along the way with a dismaying sight — that of ladders and stone blocks and construction tools, and soon Milam realized that the entire town had been enslaved and put to work building the sphinx statue. The town square had become the main sight of construction, for he saw a large group of people crowded there — so large that, considering the city's population, Milam thought that at least half of the town's civilians must have gathered to work. He pushed his way through the crowd and made his way towards the pole upon which he had put up his 'hunt' poster earlier advertising the dangers of the charity.

It was gone, as he expected, when he arrived there.

 _Oh, damn it. I wonder who took it down, though?_

But to his surprise, Milam found two familiar faces standing by the pole when he arrived there, and he instantly recognized them: one was BMJ, the rogue in his trademark purple-and-orange cloak, while the other was an archer in a black jacket and a white hat — McFarvo.

"Hey! What's going on around here?" Milam asked as he approached the two veterans.

BMJ seemed to brighten up when he saw the cleric approach them. "I haven't seen you in a while," the Rogue responded in a hushed voice. "Out on a journey or something? You shouldn't have come back. This town has become an extremely dangerous place."

"I know. We're here to liberate it," Claire responded.

McFarvo crossed his arms. "Are you sure you can do that? Our enemy is the Ancients, a group of three very powerful god-like spellcasters. The few that have tried to stand up to them are no more."

 _Wow, are they really that powerful!? To think that they could even exert their control over veterans…_

"I have the means to defeat them," Milam responded as he took out his wand; he then motioned for the two veterans to follow him as he began making his way east towards the location of the charity.

"What's that new wand you've got there?" McFarvo asked.

"A very powerful weapon, forged from Dark Mithril," the cleric said. "Have you heard about it before?"

"Only in legends," BMJ replied with a rather surprised look upon his face. "Where did you get it, anyways?"

"I'll explain it along the way."

And so Milam told the two veterans the story of his journey into the Aether Cave, and how they had found some 'Dark Mithril' there which Liwen used to forge his Gold Whisker wand — a severely upgraded version of the Bulwark. Then Claire explained how she had met up with the cleric and later, their short battle with the Crystal Prisoner; she also mentioned the 'Aether stone' that she had found (which was basically just Dark Mithril as well) and how it gave her the unique ability of casting magic.

When they were done, the group found themselves standing at the entrance of the charity.

"A wand forged of the Aether itself, and a stone that allows its bearer to cast magic," BMJ commented thoughtfully once their tale was done. He stepped slowly towards the entrance door and put his hand upon the knob.

"If the wand can destroy the Crystal Prisoner with a single spell, then even the 'Ancients' should fall easily before it," McFarvo responded.

BMJ opened up the door. "No, it won't be like that. The Crystal Prisoner may have been strong — I have heard tell of its strength from fellow travelers before — but it cannot be compared to the 'Ancients'. We are dealing with a far mightier enemy — the worst, perhaps, that the Realm has ever seen."

"Even stronger than Oryx?" Milam asked. He remembered his own experience of dealing with Selena, and how her deadly magic had been able to paralyze him.

"Perhaps so."

The four of them slowly made their way into the building. It was dark inside, and also extremely quiet — but the place still remained largely the same as Milam remembered it.

"What do we do now?" Claire asked.

The cleric braced himself before taking out his wand; a second later, three different coloured barriers appeared around him — the protective blue, the resistive red, and the magic-deflecting green. Both BMJ and McFarvo marveled as the shields appeared around themselves. The group began hurrying their way down the hall.

When the four of them finally arrived at Artem's office, they saw — to their surprise — that the place was completely empty. Even more surprising was the strange magical portal that lay at the corner of the room, seething with magic and streams of dark blue lightning.

"What happened here?" Milam asked as he went about inspecting the place.

"About three days ago, the Ancients came out in their true form and declared their purpose: the town was to build a Sphinx for them. There was initially some resistance, but it was quickly crushed, and then all the people living in this city became their slaves. And that was it — the Ancients disappeared, and we never saw them again," McFarvo responded.

"What!? You mean everyone basically listened to them and nobody bothered to question about their disappearance?" Milam asked.

"Fear is a powerful control," Claire responded. "You might not understand since you've got a wand that can blow mountains up. You've got little reason to fear anything."

 _That is kind of true. It's funny, how things have progressed in the past few days. I went from being an extremely poor hunter to one of the most powerful people in this Realm…_

"What about the Sphinx, though? Is there any reason for Artem to ask this town to build such a statue for him?"

"Nobody really knows, but some speculate that it's the statue they have hidden inside their office," BMJ answered. "By the way, their actual names are Geb, Bes, and Nut."

 _What strange names. I wonder what these 'Ancients' actually are…?_

"This looks strangely like a dungeon portal," BMJ commented upon the hole in the wall. "Shall we enter?"

Milam stepped forward and inspected the dungeon entrance. "It's almost identical to a portal," he replied. "I think this is actually a dungeon. But what could be inside?"

 _The Ancients, no doubt. I didn't even have to ask._

"This must be where they've disappeared off to," McFarvo replied. "Well then, as long as we have your barriers protecting us, we needn't worry too much, right?"

Milam nodded. "They're quite powerful, and most dungeons tend to be safe at the entrance."

The Rogue stepped forward and thrust an Agateclaw through the portal; he waited a while — about half a minute — and then took it back out with a slight grin upon his face. "Well, my hand hasn't turned to dust yet," BMJ said. "It should be safe enough for us to go in."

Milam gulped. "I'll take the lead," he said, before taking a deep breath and stepping into the portal.

* * *

They found themselves in a surprisingly well-lit room, appearing to be a bright yellow all around and covered in large deposits of sand. The room had two different exits, one to the left and the other to their right — but otherwise there was nothing too striking about it. That was, until Milam noticed the three large statues that stood stationary in a triangle at the center of the room, and they were surrounded by tall bronze pillars. The statues were of humanoid-looking figures over ten feet tall, and they wore strange clothing upon their bodies.

"Hey, those are the ancients!" BMJ exclaimed. He quickly ran up to the statues and inspected them, even giving the 'Ancients' a light stab with his dagger, but found that they were completely still.

"I wonder why they're like that?" Claire asked.

McFarvo shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I think they're just statues made in the real 'Ancients' image."

Milam stepped towards one of the exits around the room. "Spacious rooms, linear hallways, and twisting corridors. This does look like a dungeon alright. In that case, the 'real' Ancients should be waiting for us at the exit of this place."

"Shall we split up?" BMJ asked. "I'm quite suspicious of this place. It might be better for us to be separate in case something happens."

"But if we split up, then it will be harder for us to protect each other," McFarvo responded.

 _Hmmm. Split, or not? Most dungeons only have one correct path leading to the exit, anyways. That means if we split up here, one of us will eventually find a dead end and have to go back and take the other path. But if we don't split, we'll be leaving hallways and rooms behind where our enemy could potentially hide, and we don't want that to happen…_

"A split of power, perhaps?" Milam suggested. "I have my wand, and Claire her Aether stone — both extremely powerful artifacts." He almost chuckled to himself when he saw the look of disdain upon the veterans' faces, having realized that their power was now amongst the lower ranks of the group. "I'll take the right passage. Who wants to come with me?"

"I'll do it," McFarvo responded. "Claire and I are both archers, so it'll be better if we split from each other."

 _Alright, then, that works._

BMJ turned and went with Claire, and then Milam and McFarvo began proceeding down their passage.

* * *

Claire took the lead with her Aether Stone in hand as she ran down the hallway. If not for BMJ she'd have tripped over and landed flat upon her face, for the floor below her suddenly gave away and turned to quicksand. The Rogue had grabbed her just in time and pulled Claire back before her foot fell under; she looked up ahead and saw that the room in front was, like the first one, wide and spacious.

"Thanks," the Huntress said.

"Careful. I think I hear footsteps up ahead," BMJ replied. He cautiously stepped forward and dipped his foot in the quicksand before successfully discerning that the floor was shallow enough for them to wade through.

There came suddenly a flapping noise, and the Rogue jumped back as he saw a strange creature rush through the room ahead. It looked like an eagle, for it had large brown wings and a golden-yellow beak, but oddly enough stood upon two feet.

"What was that!?" Claire asked.

BMJ shrugged. "It might not be such a good idea for us to find out."

"Can you maybe cloak to get a closer look at this creature?"

The rogue sighed, and then he nodded. BMJ wrapped his purple cloak around himself and a second later, disappeared into thin air. Claire heard footsteps as the invisible Rogue struggled through the quick sand and rushed into the next room. Most cloaks lasted only about ten seconds or so, and BMJ's was no exception — however even the veteran seemed to have overestimated his time, for about fifteen seconds later there suddenly came a loud yell from the room up ahead, and Claire knew that the Rogue had run into some trouble. Lifting her bow as well as her Aether Stone high up into the air, Claire charged forward.

She waded her way as quickly as possible through the quicksand, and just as she arrived into the next room BMJ came running back with a half-eagle, half-human like monster hot upon his heels. The Rogue almost tumbled into her but stopped just in time to spin around and aim a stab at the creature that was attacking him. The eagle, however, was surprisingly quick, and its body seemed to bend back naturally so that BMJ's dagger went right over its head; then the monster opened up its wings and darted away half-flying.

Claire hastily rushed out of the quicksand and looked around the room to see what was in store for her. Aside from the eagle, another enemy — or thing - lay at the opposite corner of the room, and it looked like a big swarm of giant blue gnat-like creatures; they circled each other and brought to the Huntress' mind a tiny plague of locusts. There was also a strange pillar at the center of the room, and it was trapezoidal in shape; to her surprise it began emitting strange bursts of yellow magic in a swirl around itself.

"Now, that was what got me," BMJ said as he pointed towards the pillar. "Those yellow bolts completely paralyzed my body for a few seconds. That's why I wasn't able to run back even after my cloak-spell had disappeared."

Claire turned around and saw that the Eagle, along with the blue swarm, were now charging back towards her. She lifted her stone up into the air and cast a spell. The Rogue turned around and stared in surprise as the air around Claire — and more specifically the stone that she held in her hand — became misty, and a second later there came forth a stream of dazzling white light. The spell blasted the Eagle and sent it flying straight into the swarm, followed by a massive explosion of fire.

When all the smoke had cleared BMJ stepped back and saw that mere ashes formed the remains of the eagle, but the swarm was still alive and crawling — and in fact, many of them were moving quite fast. One of the gnats suddenly flew forward and exploded into a stream of blue bullets in midair, which barely missed the Huntress; Claire took out her bow as she watched the other gnats begin to do so as well. She backed away as quickly as possible as streams of bullets came flying after her, and she responded in turn by firing a surge of blood-red arrows at them. It seemed to do little to stave off the exploding insects, but her shots did seem to help slow down the main core of the swarm.

It was BMJ that dealt the finishing blow. He cloaked again, and then ran up behind the swarm. Taking out his Agateclaw, the Rogue slashed the core of the swarm several times until he saw all of the blue gnats come apart; then the thing simply fell dead to the floor and did not move again.

 _That was close_ , Claire thought as she quickly followed after the Rogue into the next room.

Fortunately there was no more quicksand this time, but the Huntress could hear the ominous approach of a large number of footsteps. She quietly hid behind the corridor leading into the next room and then held up her Aether stone, ready at any moment to cast a spell. It seemed that her fears were correct, for seconds later a small, black skinned jackal-like creature dressed in golden armor suddenly charged into the hallway with a large dagger in hand, its knife pointing at the Huntress' throat. Before she could cast her spell, however, BMJ had already leaped at the creature and sliced its head off with his Agateclaw.

The two of them rushed into the next room and saw that they stood face-to-face with a tall Jackal monster, much bigger than the one that they had just encountered, and a swarm of smaller but similar-looking minions surrounded it. That was all Claire needed to see to proceed with her spell; she held up her stone and, an instant later, shot out a massive red laser that incinerated the monsters. All she heard was an explosion, and then the floor went up in flames.

The tallest Jackal still remained, however, and it rushed out of the blazing inferno with a sword in hand. It leaped forward and slashed at the Huntress, who stepped out of the way just in time to avoid being struck by the attack. She was suddenly hit by something else — it felt like a Medusa bomb — as something detonated and sent flaming red sparks over her head. Claire turned around and saw that all throughout the room, there were small "fountains" through which bursts of powerful magic had been sent. She also noted that there was a small and upraised plate at the center of the room, and all these "fountains" seemed to surround it.

"BMJ! Towards that plate! See if you can stop the traps!"

The Rogue rushed towards the plate, but was suddenly stopped by a white-robed Jackal wielding a large staff resembling a Diabolic Arcana. The creature raised its staff up into the air and cast a spell, causing a purple bullet to fly out and blast BMJ into a wall.

 _Damn it!_

Claire raised her bow and shot at the tall Jackal several times until it finally crumbled into dust; she was then struck again by the magical fountains, and nearly fell sprawling to the floor. The Huntress turned around and saw that BMJ was having a short-range duel with the white-robed Jackal; she took this opportunity to run towards the plate at the center of the room. Claire raised her Aether Stone up into the air and then brought it down upon the floor, crushing the plate with the rock and causing all of the magical fountains inside the room to explode.

Meanwhile, BMJ quickly cloaked himself and then stabbed the white-robbed Jackal in the back, causing the creature to utter a cry of pain before it fell dead to the floor. The Rogue hastily regrouped with the Huntress, who looked tired and was currently sitting upon the plate that she had just smashed. Claire looked up at BMJ and tried to utter a smile.

"The monsters here are tough, aren't they?"

BMJ nodded. "Even for us veterans, yeah."

* * *

Just as a bolt of lightning shot past his face, Milam stopped at the entrance to the next room. He pressed his back against the wall and quickly cast a spell using his wand to reestablish the magical barriers around him. McFarvo leaned in close beside the cleric and notched an arrow to his bow.

"Alright. It looks like we have some monsters to deal with up ahead," Milam said before peeking into the next room to see what was in store. There appeared to be a giant trapezoidal pillar at the center of the room which shot out rapid beams of yellow magic at intervals of about ten seconds. The cleric also noticed a creature that somewhat looked like a man with a lion's face. It held a bow in its hands as well as a quiver of many different colourful arrows upon its back.

"Should we attack?" McFarvo asked.

"I'll do it."

Waiting for the next bolt of yellow magic to pass from the pillar, Milam charged into the room and shot a spell at the Lion archer. The creature seemed to notice just in time and ducked; a fireball flew over its head and smashed into the wall behind the monster, causing massive debris to collapse to the ground. That was when the cleric noticed that there was a second monster inside the room. This one looked like a big red swarm of gnats, and it was crawling forward slowly towards them.

The Lion archer sprang to its feet once all the smoke had cleared. It raised three different-coloured arrows to its bow and then shot at Milam, but fortunately all of them were halted before the cleric's barrier. McFarvo stepped forward and countered with a wave of arrows from his Blood Bow; the lion quickly retreated behind the debris and hid there, though not before receiving one shot upon its shoulder. Milam decided to finish it off as he cast a second spell from his wand, this time sending forth a massive stream of white light that incinerated the debris as well as the creature hiding behind it.

The cleric suddenly heard something knocking against his barriers, and he turned around just in time to see a dozen of those fiery red gnats ramming themselves against his shields. Each exploded into a small wave of bullets as they fell, and their collective efforts seemed to wear down Milam's mental energy, for much of his strength had been expended in maintaining the barriers. McFarvo spun around and shot another wave of arrows at the gnats, which seemed to slow them down a little bit, though the core of the swarm still continued crawling. Milam began to back away to recover a bit of his energy; he removed two of his barriers and let only the magic-resistant one remain, which caused a surge of strength to return back into his body.

 _Wow. Liwen's wand may be powerful, but it sure does take a lot of energy to use…_

The cleric lifted up his wand and, summoning up all of his mental concentration, unleashed another powerful spell — this time, a bolt of lightning — that blasted the swarm so hard it left a crater upon the ground. There came a massive explosion, and both Milam and McFarvo had to shield their eyes from the perilously bright light that appeared from the cleric's spell. Once all the smoke had cleared, Milam saw only a little red sludge upon the ground - which were probably the remains of the swarm of red gnats that he had just obliterated.

"The monsters here are indeed quite powerful," McFarvo said after the battle. "I wonder if the others are holding up okay?"

"Don't worry. BMJ is a vet, and I've seen Claire's Aether Stone unleash some amazingly powerful magic in battle. I wouldn't worry too much about them."

 _Still, I'd say that my wand is probably the more powerful of the two. I guess I do have the advantage here…_

"Need to rest a bit?" McFarvo asked.

Milam shook his head. "No, I'm fine. Let's move on."

The cleric reestablished his barrier and the two quickly hurried into the next room. They were met again by a swarm as soon as they arrived; this one was yellow in colour, but the gnats still operated by the same function. Milam felt a barrage of exploding bullets against his barriers when he stepped out of the hallway, and he hastily retreated in order to conserve his energy.

"I'll go ahead and try to distract them while you recover your strength," McFarvo suggested.

"You don't know how many enemies are waiting for you in the next room. It could be very dangerous!"

"Don't worry about me," McFarvo said. "I can take care of myself just fine. Watch!"

Before Milam could protest, the archer ran into the next room and unleashed a wave of arrows at the approaching yellow swarm. McFarvo quickly retreated as several of the gnats began chasing after him, and he kept at a safe distance from them to avoid being struck by their exploding yellow bullets. But after a while there suddenly came a loud yell from the archer, and Milam immediately sprang to his feet and grabbed his wand to see what had happened.

There were two more trap-pillars inside this room, one which shot out streams of fiery bombs and the other which unleashed a swirl of blue spheres. The Archer had been struck by the latter, and his movements seemed to slow down significantly; McFarvo also appeared to be shooting at and backing away from something.

First, though, was the matter of the swarms that Milam felt he had to deal with; if he didn't take them out now, then they could easily ambush and annihilate them in a pincer attack later on. The cleric raised his wand up into the air and cast another fire spell, though this time he unleashed it directly on top of the target: a second later, the swarm imploded. All of the gnats were scattered and each fell to the floor as a flaming pile of ash.

It was then that McFarvo suddenly crashed into Milam, and the two nearly fell tumbling to the floor. The cleric inspected his companion and saw that the archer had been struck by Confuse; he had observed the status before — a foul odour that messed with a person's mind and altered their sense of direction. It occurred frequently to travelers who fought against the putrid smell of Undead Dwarf Gods. Milam turned around and saw that they were being approached by a creature that looked like a big bloated mummy. It had red eyes and wore a dark blue fez upon its head and was also covered in rotting bandages; more importantly the thing was surrounded by small flying beetle-like insects.

"Damn it — that thing is made out of scarabs," McFarvo said as he struggled to return to his feet. "They'll paralyze you with their venomous bite. I couldn't move when a dozen of them swooped down at me!"

"Don't worry — I can keep them away with my barriers," Milam responded. He watched as the scarabs flew up towards them, but were stopped suddenly in midair by an invisible force. McFarvo took this opportunity to unleash a wave of arrows at the insects, which took them out with ease. However, the mummy did not seem to notice and continued to crawl towards them; in response Milam raised his wand and blasted it with a fireball, causing the zombie to sink into flames. As the creature's bandages burned and fell as ashes to the floor, a dozen more scarabs flew up and rammed themselves against the cleric's barrier. McFarvo finished them off with another barrage of arrows from his Blood Bow.

 _The creatures inside this tomb sure are strange. I wonder where the 'Ancients' actually are? They must be hiding somewhere — or are they even here?_

"Alright, we need to take a rest," McFarvo said as he collapsed to the floor. "This dungeon has some of the toughest monsters I've ever fought — they're even worse than Gods."

Milam nodded, and then he dispelled the barriers around himself. The two sat down together at a corner of the room and decided to have a break.

"You know, I never thought that I would get myself into any of this," Milam said as they rested. "I used to be one of the poorest people in the entire Realm. But here I am, in a new dungeon even tougher than the Abyss — I think we'd both agree on that - with a wand that just might end up being the most powerful weapon in this world."

McFarvo chucked a bit. "I'd say you're lucky, actually."

The cleric shrugged. "Well, not really. To be honest, I just want to be rich enough to sustain myself and my younger cousin. I don't want fame or glory in battle — in fact, after all of this, I think I'll just settle down and live peacefully in my home at Dale's Port."

The archer sighed. "I can understand that. A lot of veterans like me do retire when we've had enough of journeying and fighting, you know."

Milam leaned his head back against the wall and smiled. "I suppose that's the life we'd all live if we didn't have Oryx and his minions to worry about."

 _And these 'Ancients', too. We've got to be more careful the next time something like this 'charity' pops up…_

 _Come to think of it, if these 'Ancients' are so strong, then why don't they just rebel against Oryx and take over his Realm? Or maybe that's what they've been wanting to do all along…_

There came suddenly a strange noise from the room up ahead; it sounded like deep, transient murmurs with a mystical sort of tone, and Milam felt deeply unnerved. He reached for his wand and prepared for what they were about to face up ahead.


	9. ROTMG SEQUEL:NOVEL IX

**RotMG Sequel: Chapter IX**

 **Warning: This story contains adult content.**

When they arrived into the next room, Milam simply stopped dead in his tracks and stared in shock. He had not expected to meet other humans inside this dungeon at all, so naturally he was quite surprised when he saw a gathering of a dozen or so chanting priests within the room. Each wore a large golden fez hat and wielded either a blue or purple staff, and they were assembled in a circle around a giant sarcophagus.

 _Humans!? What are they…no, wait…_

The cleric felt his feet sink into sand, and then he noticed that that was pretty much what the entire room was covered in. The sand did not matter much too him, however, for he could still move — however Milam did feel a strange and ominous presence around the sarcophagus, and he could only guess that the priests' chanting was the cause of this. Instantly he realized that this could only mean trouble. Whatever those priests were, they were not human — no 'human' could emanate such powerful magical auras. Reaching for his wand, Milam felt a miasma of dark powers grip his mind, the same feeling of ominous tension that one experienced when they neared the Gods of the Realm.

"This can't be good," McFarvo whispered as he walked up beside the cleric. "What do you suppose we do?"

Milam raised up his wand and created another magical barrier around the two of them. "We'll approach those humans," the cleric whispered. "They shouldn't be able to harm us as long as my shields are up."

The two stepped quietly into the sand-covered room and approached the priest that stood nearest to them. As they came within a few feet of him, the priest suddenly looked up at them with bloodshot eyes, and its mouth opened into a gaping hole. Milam nearly jumped back in surprise, while McFarvo instantly grabbed his bow. The priest began to speak, and as it did so its lips seemed to contort and writhe mysteriously about; the creature's face was a demonic mask. It raised its wand up into the air and pointed at Milam.

"Interrupt our ceremony and we'll interrupt your lives!"

 _Alright, it's clear that they aren't the friendly sort of humans we're looking for…_

A few seconds later, all the other priests chanting in the circle stood up and pointed their wands at them.

"What is this ceremony!? Why are you all gathered here?" McFarvo asked.

The lead priest responded by simply firing a blast of purple energy at Milam, which bounced off the cleric's reflective barrier and shot into a wall. This was all the signal that the two needed to attack; McFarvo charged into the fray and sent a barrage of arrows towards the three closest priests. Each shrieked and yelled in pain, but none perished yet. Upon realizing that they would not fall so easily, the archer quickly retreated, though not after having a dozen magical blasts being sent after him. McFarvo dived into Milam's barriers just in time before he was struck.

"I think it's safe for us to say that these are complete monsters we're dealing with," the Archer said. "Most humans would fall after getting struck by a dozen arrows."

Milam nodded; he took a few steps back as four of the priests charged forward and blasted his barriers with several shots of blue and purple magic. In retaliation, the cleric cast a lightning spell, and two of his targets were fried into ashes. Milam noticed that some of the priests standing behind the Sarcophagus suddenly began to scream, before parting away from each other as if something had driven their way in between them. McFarvo took no notice of this, however, and he continued shooting arrows at the priests at a safe distance from behind Milam's protection. Two more of them fell, while the rest continued to wail at the cleric's barriers with spells from their staffs.

"These barriers are draining a lot of energy out of me," Milam said as another burst of purple magic struck against his shields. The cleric quickly retreated out of the room and into the previous hallway, gasping as he stopped to recover his strength.

"I guess that was a bad idea," McFarvo replied. "These priests are quite strong. We won't be able to take them out hiding behind your barriers forever."

Milam took a deep breath and swallowed before he spoke again. "I don't think we're alone on this, though." He pointed at the group of priests that had just parted from behind the Sarcophagus.

"What do you mean?"

They were suddenly interrupted by the noise of a massive explosion, and Milam spun around just in time to see a blast of fire sweep over three of the priests. When all the smoke had cleared he saw Claire running towards them from the opposite end of the room. All the other priests had been dazed by the attack, and it took them a few seconds before they could recover and realize what was going on. Then one pointed his staff and blasted the Huntress with a scythe-shaped bolt of blue magic, which seemed to weaken Claire and cause her movements to slow down to a limp; it then proceeded to give chase, and the others quickly followed suit.

"That's Claire!" McFarvo yelled. "We've got to go help her!"

Just as the priest in the lead caught and trapped the Huntress into a corner, Milam blasted him with a fireball and he instantly disintegrated into dust. But before the cleric could speak a few words to Claire, two other priests arrived and shot out a wave of blue and purple magic at him. Milam quickly raised his wand up into the air and summoned up another barrier, and he felt his energy being drained as the spells wailed upon his shields. The cleric collapsed to the ground, and Claire ran towards him to give him some help.

"Are you alright?" The Huntress asked. "I have a few Mana Potions if you need them."

"No, it's quite alright…"

"I insist you drink them." Claire grabbed two purple pots out of her bag and raised them to Milam's lips. Although the cleric initially tried to push her away, he quickly stopped his efforts as he felt the magical liquid seep down his throat and fill his body up with a burst of new-found strength. When he was done drinking the two potions, Milam's stood up and smiled a bit.

"Thanks, Claire. You really didn't have to, though — I could've survived well enough on my own."

"Don't be like that. I'll give you my help when you need it."

Milam nodded, and then he turned around just in time to see three more priests arrive to attempt to break through his barrier; they were now smashing their staffs against his shields. Claire raised her bow up into the air and shot two down with a merciless wave of arrows; the third continued its attack, but was stopped a second later when its head suddenly fell right off its neck. Milam nearly jumped back in surprise, and Claire halted; then BMJ materialized from out of thin air as he took off his cloak with a bloodied dagger in hand.

"Didn't expect to see me, did you?" The Rogue asked with a slight smile upon his face.

"BMJ! You're alright!" Milam cried.

"Of course I am. You can't expect a veteran to die from this silly little dungeon, can you?"

Milam nodded, before taking down his barrier. He looked around the room and saw that McFarvo had already dealt with the remaining priest. Now all that was left was the Sarcophagus that stood at the center of the room.

"What should we do with that thing?" Milam asked.

Claire shrugged. "Well, the priests were chanting to it, so the sarcophagus must be 'evil' — that's for sure. How about we blow it up?"

 _There doesn't seem to be any other option. We could, of course, just ignore it and move on…but leaving that evil tomb lying inside this room unnerves me._

"Go ahead."

Claire raised her Aether stone up into the air, and seconds later, shot out a bright beam of energy towards the Sarcophagus; Milam then sent a giant fireball at the tomb from his wand, and it completely disintegrated into ashes.

 _I suppose that worked._

The four of them rushed towards the ashes of the Sarcophagus and found a strange liquid lying on the floor where it had stood. The liquid was bluish in colour, though at times it emitted a bizarre shade of magenta. BMJ knelt down and took out an empty mana pot to collect a bit of the substance.

"Why would you take it?" Milam asked. "I don't think I've ever seen that liquid before. What if it's dangerous?"

"If it is, it will have already burned through my pot," BMJ replied. "Mana pots are magically strengthened to withstand unstable substances. I'd like to take this liquid to inspect it once we're done with this place."

 _Alright then, whatever you say._

"Well, what do we do now?" McFarvo asked, before turning towards Claire and BMJ. "Did you find anything interesting?"

"Not really. We just fought a lot of monsters," Claire replied. "If the passage that we took led us here, and you happened to arrive here as well, then…wouldn't this place be the end of the dungeon?"

Milam folded his arms. "We didn't encounter any intersections, either. If neither of us missed anything, then that means this dungeon loops around in a circle."

 _And if this place is the end…then where are these 'Ancients' that we're looking for?_

As if to answer his question, there suddenly came a loud and booming voice from somewhere far off within the dungeon, but it was clearly audible:

"ENOUGH WITH YOUR VANDALISM!"

"YOU HAVE AWAKENED US IMMORTALS!"

"YOU SHALL SLEEP INSIDE THIS TOMB FOREVER!"

Milam spun around and raised his wand up into the air, as if expecting to be attacked at any moment. Fortunately, nothing came…or at least, nothing yet.

"Those voices sound like they came from the entrance, didn't they?" McFarvo noted. "Maybe those statues that we saw of the 'Ancients'…"

 _They're calling us to fight them…maybe they're actually the 'Ancients' themselves!_

"So we've known where the Gods of this Tomb were all along?" Claire asked.

Milam turned towards one of the room's exits. "Well, let's get to it. Back to the entrance!"

* * *

Although Milam did not think the Tomb Gods would in any way resemble their former human selves, the cleric was still surprised at their forms when he saw Nut, Bes, and Geb in their true colours. Each stood over ten feet tall and bore a multitude of weapons; Selena was obviously Nut, a purple-skinned sorceress who wore a swirling blue dress and wielded both a staff and a bow in her hands. Bes was the largest and appeared to be a yellow Golem made out of hardened sand; Milam could tell that he had been Belk due to his massive size. The final one, Geb, had green skin and long brown hair and his weapon was a tall wooden staff.

The four of them stopped and unsheathed their weapons as soon as they entered the room. Milam noticed that the floor here was covered in Quicksand as well, though not extensively; the cleric took out his wand and then stepped slowly towards the Tomb Gods.

"It's been a while, Milam," Nut whispered in a raspy voice. It sounded like the hiss of a serpent, seething with poison and malice, and then the cleric knew instantly that she had completely changed from her calm former self. _So this is their true form…a charity owner becomes malevolence incarnate._

"I'm not here to talk," Milam yelled in response. "I don't care that the three of you once led the Realm's largest charity. You had nothing but ill intent, which is why we're here to liberate the town from your control!"

Geb laughed, and his loud and booming voice ran across the room. "Ill intent! What are you talking about, mortal? What is 'ill' in this world? What sets us apart from Oryx, or any other monster?"

Milam tensed. _They're sentient, and can obviously think as well as reason…_ The cleric thought to himself. He took a deep breath, and then said, "Enslavement and torture! I won't forget what you've done to the people in this town!"

It was Bes that spoke next, and his voice was extraordinarily deep. "The Mad God sleeps now, although his mind dreams in restless turmoil. When he awakes, we shall disappear — that is why our purpose is to conquer this Realm before Oryx rids himself of his nightmare."

"That Sarcophagus you destroyed — that was the magical entity which would give the Sphinx life!" Geb bellowed. "Here in this tomb, it provides power to the Grand Sphinx, strongest of the master Gods. With it we would have conquered this Realm. We would have reigned supreme over this Realm — we would've been able to crush Oryx!"

"Think about it!" Nut hissed. "Oryx has committed mass genocide, but all we have done is petty enslavement. We shall be much better rulers than him."

A look of rage appeared upon Milam's face. "Don't make me laugh! You three are just as bad — or perhaps even worse — than Oryx! You've made your way to power through lies and deceit, and you have subjected this entire town to your tyrannical rule!"

Claire nodded, and she stepped forward as well. "You're right, Milam: they're lying! Nightmares of Oryx are worse than Oryx himself."

 _What is this 'Nightmare' thing? How did Claire know about Oryx's dreams!?_

Nut raised her staff up into the air. "Fools! We are immortals. How do you expect to deal with the likes of us?" The air inside the room tensed, and Milam began to feel a heavy pressure weigh down upon him. As his knees began to shudder, the cleric felt his hand slowly moving towards his wand. But before he could summon up his barriers, Nut had already cast her spell. Three massive bolts of dark lightning shot out from her staff and blasted BMJ, Claire, and McFarvo, sending all of them spiraling to the ground.

"No!"

Milam immediately cast his purple barrier spell, creating a sphere of regeneration around his allies. Their wounds instantly began to heal, and before long all three of them were back up on their feet again. The cleric then put up two more barriers around the group, one of melee protection and the other of magical resistance.

"This won't take long," Nut hissed before raising her bow up into the air. "Do the four of you honestly believe that you can take us on!?"

Milam turned around and saw that BMJ and McFarvo were getting ready to attack. Both had their weapons raised and were prepared to strike at a moment's notice.

Then Nut charged forward, and she unleashed a barrage of green arrows towards the group. Each stopped and fell before Milam's barriers, but their raw power was undeniable: the tip of the arrows shot out magical sparks and burst into flames as they halted in midair. The cleric gasped, and he collapsed to the floor as he felt drained of his strength.

"We have to attack now!" BMJ yelled, and he put on his cloak.

Claire acted first; she stepped forward and cast a spell, which sent a stream of blazing fire out towards the Tomb Gods. Geb and Bes stood in the back and thus were quick to part out of the way; the fireball landed near Nut and caused a giant explosion, resulting in the formation of a large crater where she stood. The Goddess staggered back in pain as the floor burst into flames; then McFarvo took aim with his bow and shot at her through the dense smoke. He could hear the hissing of Nut as his arrows stung her skin, but she was quick to retaliate.

The Goddess sped through the ashes of the spell and raised her staff up into the air. "My artifacts! Come to me," she yelled, and a second later four large green spheres materialized from out of thin air. Each landed near Nut and began to circle around her body, forming a dense wall of protection. She then spun towards McFarvo and unleashed a barrage of black arrows towards him.

The archer ducked as the first few arrows flew over his head, but he was struck by the third. McFarvo cried out in surprise as he noticed that the arrow made the hide of his Griffon Armor disintegrate, even though the impact did not hurt him much. He quickly retreated behind Milam's barriers while Claire followed up with a wave of shots from her Blood Bow. The majority of them were deflected by the Goddess' sphere-barrier, but the few that flew through stung Nut's skin, and she hissed in pain. "Bes! Protect me at once!" She yelled.

The large yellow golem nodded, and he began stomping towards the Goddess; but then Claire suddenly turned around and shot out a bolt of lightning from her Aether Stone towards the God's feet. It landed right in front Bes, resulting in an explosion of rock and dust that nearly blinded the golem; he quickly covered up his face and backed away slowly.

"Don't come any closer!" The Huntress yelled.

"Fool!" Bes replied, and he stomped the ground with his feet; the entire room shook from the God's massive weight. "I shan't fear the sting from such a weak attack!"

Nut turned around and aimed her staff at the Huntress. "Imbecile," she whispered, "Do not think that your attacks are special. We immortals have mastered them ages ago!" A second later, she sent out a blast of black lightning towards Claire, striking the Huntress upon her shoulder and flattening her to the ground. At the exact same moment, however, Milam stepped forward and cast a fire spell: a sphere of blazing energy flew towards the Goddess and pierced through all of her artifacts, and Nut screamed in pain.

Once all the smoke had cleared, the Goddess appeared covered in burns, and her dress was a black and tattered rag. "That wand!" She yelled. "Where did you get it from!?"

A smirk appeared upon Milam's face. "Still think that you're so strong?"

Nut raised her staff up into the air, and the artifacts surrounding her began to circle the Goddess' body even faster than before. Milam suddenly felt a deep and unnerving tension in the air, and he braced himself for what was about to come. It reminded him of when Nut had cast her first spell, for he felt a similar pressure upon his shoulders; the cleric summoned up all his strength and concentration into maintaining his barriers. A second later, Nut charged forward and attacked. From each of the spheres that surrounded her came out star-shaped orbs of energy that flew into his shields like shurikens, and again Milam felt the energy being drained from his body.

Nut was suddenly stopped in mid-charge as something pierced through her barriers, and a knife embedded itself deep through her chest. She jerked back in pain as steaming red blood fell to the floor; then BMJ materialized out of thin air as his cloak disappeared, and the goddess shrieked with rage. Instantly all of the magical green orbs from her artifacts became directed towards him, and the Rogue was struck by three of them. As BMJ ran his movement suddenly slowed, and he began to limp. Before he could get away, Nut raised a giant green arrow to her bow and shot it at the Rogue. It struck BMJ upon his back with such force that he flew into a wall and became paralyzed, leaving a nasty trail of blood behind him.

"BMJ!"

Milam quickly ran towards the Rogue with his Tome in hand, hoping that the attack had not killed him. As BMJ came into range of his regeneration barrier, the Rogue was just able to recover enough strength to lift his hand up into the air and pull the arrow out from his back, causing a fountain of blood to spout into the air; BMJ bit his lip in an attempt to repress the pain, but an agonizing cry still escaped from his lips.

The cleric immediately cast his strongest healing spell, and this caused bright white rays of light to swirl upon BMJ's body, replenishing the blood that he had lost and sealing up the gravest of his wounds. However, because his injury was quite serious, the Rogue still could not stand up yet, and he sank to the ground once the spell had finished.

"Are you alright?" Milam asked.

BMJ groaned, and he tried to sit himself up. "Damn. I should've been more careful back there."

The cleric turned around just in time to see Nut continue her charge, and seconds later his barriers became bombarded by another wave of green energy orbs from her magical artifacts. Milam shuddered as he felt the energy being drained from his body again; each blow from the orbs seemed a spike upon his mind, and his mental strength was gradually withering. The Goddess howled in laughter before notching an arrow to her bow; her next attack would surely pierce through the cleric's shields. The green arrow appeared, its jagged tip seething with magical energies, and Milam braced himself for the worst. A smile appeared upon Nut's lips, and then she fired.

At that instant there suddenly came a loud explosion; Milam's head swerved around and he saw Claire and McFarvo busy dealing with the other two Tomb Gods. The Huntress had just cast another fire spell, and now the floor around her had burst into flames again. BMJ quickly used this moment of surprise to his advantage and jumped to his feet. He lifted his Agateclaw up into the air and threw it at the Goddess; it flew right in between Nut's barriers and struck her upon the neck. She gasped and staggered back in pain, but that did not stop her arrow from firing and slicing its way right through Milam's barriers.

The cleric shrieked as all his concentration broke down, and he felt something stab through his mind. The barrier had shattered like glass, and he fell to his knees as all the energy became drained out of his body. Claire immediately noticed this and turned away from her enemy — which, at that moment, had been Bes — and she ran towards Milam with a Mana pot in hand. Without hesitation, the Huntress lifted the pot to the cleric's lips and made him drink it. Milam felt warmth return to his body as the liquid gushed down his throat, and he thought at that moment that he couldn't be more thankful for Claire's help. With so much of his strength lost, he would've fallen unconscious in mere seconds had the Huntress not come along with her potion.

Milam looked up at the Huntress with weary eyes. "Thanks," he said tiredly. "I feel a lot better now."

Claire shook her head. "No, you need more." She quickly got a few more pots out from her bag and made Milam drank every one of them. When he was finally finished, the cleric felt a bit relieved, though now he was cold and rather tired. That was one thing which Mana Pots did not provide — although they replenished your mental vitality, they did not really give your body any physical strength or energy.

There suddenly came a loud cry of rage, and Milam jumped to his feet as he braced himself for Nut's next attack. She was now furious, and magical energy literally coursed over her body as the Goddess held her staff up into the air. "All of you shall die!" The barriers reappeared around her body again, each levitating up into the air and crackling with dark lightning. A second later, Nut charged forward and unleashed several blades of multi-coloured energy towards the group.

By then Milam was still too weak to create another barrier, so he simply ducked to evade the attack. A blue, green, and purple blade flew over his head, the last one missing the edge of his face by barely an inch; he then quickly rolled out of the way as Nut sent a bolt of lightning towards them. This blasted the wall behind him into smithereens, and the cleric felt large chunks of debris smash into the floor around him. He quickly jumped to his feet and ran out of the way before the wall collapsed entirely; Milam looked and saw that the others were able to escape safely as well.

"Are the rest of you okay?" The cleric asked once all the smoke had cleared. He noticed a cut along BMJ's neck — where he had probably been sliced by one of Nut's magical blades — but both of them appeared to be in well enough condition. Before Milam could take out his Tome to heal BMJ, however, he heard Nut's hiss and quickly turned towards the Goddess to prepare himself for her next attack.

That was when McFarvo came running back towards the party, and he brought along with his arrival a flurry of arrows. Nut hissed with pain as a few shot through her barriers and stung her side; she spun around swiftly and directed a wave of green energy orbs towards the archer. McFarvo was struck by three of them and his movement immediately slowed. Then Nut fired a black arrow at him, and again the arrow disintegrated part of the archer's Griffon Hide armor; this time upon his left shoulder. He attempted to run back towards the party, but found that Nut had come too close and was now backing him slowly into a corner. A look of fear dawned upon McFarvo's face.

"We have to help him," Claire said. "Milam, do you have enough strength to cast a spell?"

"Of course," the cleric responded. "Let's merge our spells together. I'm sure we can take down Nut if we combine the power of two Aether weapons!"

The Huntress nodded. "Alright, then."

There came forth a stream of blazing fire from Claire's Aether Stone and a lightning bolt from Milam's wand; both merged together in mid-air to form a ball of flames wreathed in a torrent of white energy. Just before she was struck, Nut turned around and braced herself for the attack, but to no avail; the barriers surrounding her disintegrated — pierced by the blazing projectile - and Nut was struck upon her chest, throwing her into a wall. All they saw was a massive explosion, followed by a cloud of flaming smoke, and everything near the site of impact was turned to ash. McFarvo had stayed a fair distance from the Goddess before Milam and Claire had cast their spells, so he was able to escape unharmed. By then, the archer had already recovered from his limp and quickly hurried back towards the party.

 _Nut…is she dead? Did we just succeed in killing her?_

The other tomb Gods were also veiled behind the wreath of smoke, so Milam could not see them - but Geb and Bes did not concern him at the moment. Nut still did not appear from the flames even after they waited about a minute.

"Did we kill Nut?" Milam asked hesitantly.

Nobody responded. Rather everybody continued to stare at the smoke, hoping that once it cleared it would reveal the remains of the Tomb God.

Alas, it was a false hope.

For then they heard an agonizing howl, and it came from a voice that they all recognized; the scream carried Nut's faint but malice-tinted hiss. Then from out of ashes arose the Goddess, and her skin and dress had been charred black; in fact, she looked covered in soot from head to toe. But her staff was still there, and Nut had it raised high up in the air, and — to Milam's dismay — it was pulsing with streams of magical energy.

"This cannot be," the Goddess whispered, and for the first time Milam thought he heard a tone of worry — perhaps even one of fear — within her voice. "I have the power of an Ancient. I am a God, an Immortal! I cannot be destroyed."

Suddenly, Milam froze with fear as he felt the presence of something both familiar and horrifying; he thought, for just a tiny fraction of a second, that he saw Selena's old form back within Nut's body, but it was now more evil than ever — and in fact, Milam's memories of her human form scared him even more than that of the Tomb God. He remembered, then, a spell that Selena had cast, and it had paralyzed him, sending a wave of pain pulsing through every nerve in his body. When that happened, he could not even scream — all that was available to him was to freeze in terror.

It was the spell that Nut would now cast.

"NO!"

There came a wave of blue projectiles from Nut's staff, and it flew towards them like rain so that they did not even have any time or space to duck. As soon as Milam was struck by one he felt his entire body becoming stiff, and then the terrifying feeling of paralysis crept through all of his limbs. He began to experience again the awful sensation of a thousand pricks against his skin, as if he had just fallen through a stack of needles, and then the cleric wanted to do nothing but scream. But even his mouth was paralyzed, and Milam felt a cold shock run down along his spine; when that happened, he would be completely unable to move.

 _No…I can't let this happen to me!_

With a victorious smirk upon her face, Nut began to charge towards the group. The others had all been paralyzed as well, and they stood rooted to the spot like statues. All of them were sitting ducks before the Tomb God's sheer power.

 _It can't end like this!_

Milam tried his hardest to move, though now every part of his body was so numb that he might as well have been trapped in ice. Even the cleric's eyes refused to work, and he found that he could only stare straight forward. He thought back to that day when he fought Selena inside Artem's office, and how her spell had completely immobilized him. But at that time Milam had not been drained of all his energy — as this battle had done — and he had the strength and willpower to break through this paralysis.

 _Damn it, damn it! I won't die here! I just can't!_

Again, the cleric tried his hardest to move his arms and legs to break out of the spell, which only resulted in more pain; Nut was now dangerously close to them, and in a few seconds she would be able to finish all of them off. Milam stared in hopeless terror at the staff that she held in her hands; it was raised high up in the air and pulsed with streams of dark energy. Then, for the first time in a long while, the cleric felt true fear — that of dying, and sinking forever into the void — and Milam realized that this time, he might not actually make it.

 _No, no, no! I can't give up just yet!_

Fueled by this intense fear, the cleric continued to struggle, but to no avail. Milam felt all his hope begin to drain away from his body, and with it he succumbed — fully — to the terror of his situation. Now Nut stood but a few feet away from him, and lightning crackled in her hand — she would unleash her wrath upon them, and then they would all turn to dust instantly. In one last burst of strength the cleric attempted to throw his body forward, but he simply did not have the energy left in him to fight any more. But even then he continued to push and surge and struggle against the paralysis that bound him tighter than chains, for he would fight to his very last.

 _NO!_

But at that moment — perhaps a split second before the Goddess unleashed her spell — Nut's head suddenly went flying off her neck, and then the rest of her body crumbled like a rag doll to the floor. Instantly the paralysis left Milam's body, and he thought that he could not possibly feel happier to have the feeling of motion return to his limbs again, which were now free from the devastating numbness. The cold had also left the cleric's body as well, and due to all his struggling Milam almost fell forward when he finally broke free of the spell's grip.

And then, BMJ materialized from out of thin air, and the space where Nut's head had been became filled with a purple dagger.

"BMJ!" Came the cheers of Claire and McFarvo — and Milam found himself cheering as well — as they all ran towards the Rogue to embrace him.

"How did you break free of that spell?" McFarvo asked. "It was the worst thing I ever experienced. My body couldn't move at all!"

Claire nodded. "I was frozen and cold, and I thought I would die — no, I was sure then that I would die."

The Rogue nearly blushed. "To tell you the truth, I simply hid," he replied modestly. "I cloaked myself one second before Nut cast her spell, and then I flattened myself to the floor."

 _Oh! So that's how…_

"I waited until the 'Blue Rain' had disappeared, and then, afterwards, I saw Nut begin to charge. I took this opportunity to sneak up behind the Goddess to finish her off."

"Genius!" McFarvo exclaimed. "I never thought I'd make it out of that one, but it was all thanks to you, BMJ!"

 _I can't believe I survived that either. I'm going to have to give a load of thanks to BMJ later…_

But at that moment there suddenly came a calamitous roar of anguish from the other two Tomb Gods, and the group turned around to see that Geb and Bes were preparing to charge towards them.

"Impossible!" Geb yelled, and he slammed the bottom tip of his staff upon the floor.

"We cannot forgive you for this. All of you shall die!" Bes cried, before rushing towards the party.

 _Damn. No time to celebrate yet; we've still got to take out the other two…_

"Considering how difficult it was to defeat Nut, we may be in for a load of trouble here," Milam whispered.

"But on the other hand, it'll be easier for us with only two Tomb Gods to deal with," McFarvo responded. "Claire and I were able to deal a good amount of damage to Bes and Geb while you were fighting Nut. This shouldn't be too difficult for us."

The cleric felt the floor rumble beneath his feet as the two massive Gods charged towards them. He thought of using his wand to create another barrier around the group, but Milam still felt a bit too tired and drained of his strength to do so. He only had the energy to cast a few more spells at the moment.

"Milam!" Claire yelled as she raised her Aether stone up into the air, "Let's take them out right now. We'll bombard them with another dose of our spells."

The cleric nodded. _Alright, I should have the strength for that._ He lifted up his wand and began summoning up all his concentration for the next spell; again, the air seemed to become more tense, and Milam felt a heavy pressure upon his shoulders as the mental stamina was drained out of him. Yet he was urged to continue in his efforts as the Tomb Gods approached ever closer, and the cleric realized that he did not have much time left to conjure up his spell. Milam waited for Claire's signal; then, when he saw the Huntress step forward, he unleashed a bolt of lightning from his wand.

There came a stream of fire from Claire's Aether Stone, and their two spells merged together in midair — again — to form a flaming white projectile of energy. It struck Bes square in the chest, and the golem disappeared into a cloud of smoke. At the same time, Geb seemed to have been knocked down by the spell as well — or at least pushed back - for he vanished from sight when the fireball struck. For a moment all the party could see was an explosion of ash, and the floor appeared to be covered in soot. Milam couldn't help but think that if they continued wrecking everything with their magic, the entire room would inevitably collapse.

"Do you think we got them?" The cleric asked.

The others did not respond, but rather continued staring into the smoke.

To Milam's dismay, he found that Bes was still standing, though now the golem was covered in scratches and burns; nevertheless the rage and fury still remained upon the Tomb God's face. Bes charged again, this time faster than ever. The party immediately dispersed so that they could spread out the damage from the Tomb God's attacks, and Bes began chasing after BMJ. The Rogue quickly became trapped into a corner due to the golem's massive size; he ducked as Bes aimed a punch at his face, and the God's fist smashed into the wall, creating a giant hole where he had struck.

BMJ immediately cloaked himself and tried to run away from his opponent, but that was when Bes raised his fists up into the air and began chanting a spell. An instant later, a dozen fiery crescent-shaped blades of energy exploded out of the Golem's body, which surprised all the others — they did not know that Bes could cast any magic. BMJ noticed the attack just in time and he flattened himself to the floor so that the fiery blades flew over his head; however he did not know that the crescents would fly back towards Bes like boomerangs, and the Rogue ended up being struck from behind, causing him to fall flat upon his face.

At that moment McFarvo charged forward and attempted to save the Rogue from Bes' wrath by unleashing a barrage of arrows towards the yellow Tomb God. This seemed to do little other than sting the golem a bit, and it turned around with an aggravated look upon its face. Bes raised his hand up into the air, and out shot a burst of dark lightning, striking McFarvo upon the shoulder and throwing him into a wall. Realizing now the capabilities of the golem's magic, Milam quickly summoned up a magic-resistant barrier, for he had no other way of protecting himself.

The cleric winced as another massive bolt of dark magic blasted against his barrier. Then Bes turned around and continued advancing towards BMJ — who had fallen to the ground — to finish off the Rogue. Claire immediately stepped forward and raised her Aether Stone up into the air.

"Come on, Milam. Another spell! We've got to help him!"

The cleric nodded, and he began summoning up his concentration for another spell. While this happened, Milam had to lower the barriers around himself in order to conserve his mental energy. Both unleashed their spells a second later; ice and lightning merged together in midair to form a bolt of piercing energy, and Bes collapsed to the floor as he was struck upon his back. The Cleric was about to run towards his fallen allies — BMJ and McFarvo — to heal them, but that was when he felt the presence of something large and ominous standing right behind him.

Milam turned around just in time to see Geb's face towering above his head. There came the sound of crackling energy, and an instant later, the cleric was struck by a massive bolt of dark lightning, and then everything went dark.


	10. ROTMG SEQUEL:NOVEL X

**RotMG Sequel: Chapter X**

 **Warning: This story contains adult content.**

 _Oh…how long have I been fighting?_

 _Did I just fall unconscious? When will this battle be over?_

When Milam opened up his eyes, he found himself lying down at a corner of the room with Claire standing beside him. He groaned and felt a pain in his chest, which he recalled was the place where Geb had struck him with his lightning spell.

 _What am I here for? Why am I fighting the Ancients again…?_

Milam rubbed his eyes, and then he slowly began to lift himself to his feet again. He saw Bes standing at the center of the room, covered in arrows and dagger marks and burns from fire spells; the Tomb God appeared to be doing nothing but pulsating with energy.

 _To end their reign of terror…_

"Ugh."

Claire turned around with a look of surprise upon her face. "I see you're awake," the Huntress whispered. "You're a tough one, you know that?"

The cleric shrugged. "I can't believe that I survived, either. How is the battle going?"

Claire pointed towards Bes. "We're orchestrating a last desperation attack upon him," she answered. "Just watch what happens — you can help as well if you see that it's necessary. As for Geb, we've got him paralyzed in a corner with one of McFarvo's arrows."

 _Sounds like it's going surprisingly well._

"Is it going to work?" Milam asked.

"I wouldn't know," Claire responded. "It's about to start. Get ready!"

Bes cried out in pain as an unseen dagger pierced him in the side; the Golem swung around at his opponent, but his fist cut through thin air. Bes suddenly bent his head towards the ground, and BMJ materialized to reveal that he had climbed right upon the God's neck — a bit too soon, unfortunately. With a terrifying roar, the golem grabbed BMJ off his body and prepared to smash the Rogue's face with a punch.

"BMJ!"

Milam stepped forward and immediately blasted Bes' arm with a bolt of lightning from his wand, causing the God to reel back in pain and throwing BMJ into a wall. McFarvo came running towards Bes and shot a wave of arrows at him. In response, the golem raised its fists up into the air and unleashed a barrage of fiery crescent-shaped blades towards the archer, but McFarvo was able to evade them easily by simply dropping himself to the floor. Then, at ground level, the archer took out one of the massive six-feet long arrows from his Golden Quiver, and he shot it at Bes' knee.

The golem cried out in pain as paralysis took over his body, leaving him vulnerable to an attack from behind for just a few seconds. "Claire, now!" McFarvo yelled.

Without hesitation, the Huntress stepped forward and threw out a stream of fire from her Aether Stone towards the Tomb God. Milam saw — to his surprise — that the fire did not actually hit Bes directly, but rather entered straight into the God's body.

"I call this the Implosion," Claire said.

There came a gargantuan blast of energy as Bes's body exploded from the inside, and the God was incinerated by a stream of blinding white fire. Milam had to shield his eyes as the yellow golem disintegrated, and when the light disappeared he saw that only ashes remained of Bes. The second Tomb God was finally dead.

"YES!" Came Claire's voice as she jumped up and shouted with joy. Now the only one left for them to deal with was Geb. Meanwhile, McFarvo ran towards BMJ and gave the Rogue a few Ichors so that he could recover from his wounds. Milam turned towards Geb, who stood at the opposite corner of the room, and was surprised by what he saw.

The last Tomb God was furious, no doubt, but the look upon Geb's face was surprisingly tranquil, and he almost appeared calm.

"You will pay for your crimes," the wizard whispered in a hostile tone. "Nut and Bes may be dead, but I shall still persevere." To the party's surprise, Geb threw his staff to the floor, and it transformed into ashes. "I am the leader of the Tomb Gods. I shall not be defeated."

Yet Geb did not seem angry at all, and a second later, he sat down upon the ground in a meditative position with his hand placed in front of his chest. The last God closed his eyes, and then all became silent.

 _What is he doing!?_

Although he should've been worried, Milam felt surprisingly calm as well. There was none of the tension in the room that he had sensed when Nut or Bes were casting their spells, nor did he get the feeling that something bad was going to happen. Usually the cleric thought that he could feel the presence of powerful magics by sensing a heavy pressure in the air, but the room could not have been more serene at the moment.

 _That's a rather unusual statement_ , Milam thought as he observed just how battered the room looked. The floor was covered in ash, and debris lined the walls in huge burning chunks.

"Geb! Stand up and fight us!" McFarvo yelled at the Tomb God, and he raised his bow up into the air. "Do you have a death wish or something?"

There came no response from the Tomb God. In fact, he almost looked like he was asleep — for Geb was as still as a statue in his meditative position with his eyes closed.

The archer put down his bow and crossed his arms. "You'd let your comrades Nut and Bes go to their deaths, and then just sit down and admit defeat like that!?" McFarvo took a step forward.

"Wait!" Claire yelled as she sprung after the Archer. "This could be a trick. You don't know what he might be plotting!"

McFarvo notched an arrow to his bow. "Don't worry," he responded. "Geb can't attack me when he's sitting like that. I'll go finish him off."

The archer turned around and looked at the others one at a time. First at Claire, who had a worried look upon her face; BMJ with his solemn expression, and Milam, who remained stoic and determined. He notched an arrow to his bow and then pointed it at Geb.

"This will end the reign of the Ancients," McFarvo whispered. "It's been a long and tough battle, but I'm glad that it's now finally over."

 _The battle hasn't exactly ended yet,_ Milam thought. _Geb is still alive, and he's sitting there…_

"And good riddance, too!" BMJ added, raising his dagger up into the air. "Deceit, torture, and human enslavement — how much worse can these monsters get?"

The archer took a shaky step forward, and then he began his charge. McFarvo leaped at Geb and unleashed a flurry of arrows from his bow, including one out of his Golden Quiver. "But the human beings of this Realm will never be enslaved!"

 _So, this is it, then? This is how the Ancients will resign themselves?_

 _McFarvo…You didn't have to-_

At that instant, an amalgamation of spells completely exploded out of Geb's body, as if he was a bomb that had just been set off by its fuse. McFarvo didn't even have time to register what he was seeing before he became annihilated by the overwhelming cluster of magic. Out flew streams of dark lightning; arrows that were forged of flames; a heap of exploding crimson bombs; rainbow-coloured crescents of energy; and massive diamond-shaped artifacts that shot out a helix of black bolts. Milam watched in horror as the archer was literally vapourized, and the arrows that he had fired — those that flew through Geb's explosion of magic — fell to the floor upon striking the barrier that appeared around the wizard.

Everyone was completely stunned.

And now the room was even more silent than before; for as soon as Geb's spells disappeared all the tension in the air cleared, and the only thing that became different of the room was one less person. Nothing remained of the archer; he had taken Geb's spells full in their destruction and now McFarvo was gone, bodiless, scattered to the void.

The Cleric could only slowly shift his eyes around to see the reactions of the others, which were just as perplexed as his. Claire's mouth was hanging open, while BMJ simply looked mortified.

 _This…can't be…_

Milam began shaking. He felt himself losing control over his body as his arms and legs began to writhe about, heedless of his mind's command to get a grip upon himself. The cleric could not stop shuddering.

 _McFarvo…_

He felt himself unconsciously reaching for the wand which lay by his side. Then he felt the gazes of his two companions upon him; BMJ and Claire, who were now looking up to Milam as if they somehow expected an answer out of him.

 _I…will…not.._

And he noticed that the looks upon their faces were no longer that of astonishment, but had instead been replaced with rage and disgust, and he knew then, what had to be done.

 _I won't let your death be in vain…_

Milam raised his wand up into the air. "I'll avenge you, McFarvo!" He yelled out loud, before casting all five of his barriers around himself: the blue of protection, the red of resistance, the green of magical deflection, the yellow of speed, and the purple of regeneration. _You're not the only one with barriers, Geb!_

There suddenly came a deep laugh from out of nowhere, and the room seemed to vibrate with its echo. The voice was familiar, and Milam instantly recognized it as belonging to Geb. Only now the Tomb God still had his mouth closed, and he was actually speaking to them through their minds. The room seemed to reverberate with Geb's ominous presence.

"Yet again you have underestimated my power," the Tomb God spoke. "Little mortals, do not think so mighty of yourself. For I am an Ancient, and the power within this Tomb still belongs to me. I shall crush each and every one of you!"

"No!" Milam cried, and he saw Claire and BMJ rally to his side, both running under cover of his barriers. "You will not win. You will never be able to prevail against us, no matter how powerful you are."

The Cleric held his wand up as high as possible. "This is our march to end the Ancients. Come on!"

Milam turned around and saw both Claire and BMJ nod to him.

"These barriers will not fall. Upon my life, I will withstand all that your throw at me!"

And then the three of them began their charge towards the Tomb God. As soon as they came within radius of Geb's spells, Milam suddenly felt as if they had walked right into the middle of a massive thunderstorm. Just as before, there came an explosion of magic from Geb's body, and the God's spells struck against his barriers with a force that the cleric could never have imagined. It was as if all the elemental forces of nature — the very fabric of reality itself and the energies that reigned over the universe — were against him, and Milam's strength began to drain faster than ever. Claire did not even need to ask before she threw her bag of Mana Pots at him; the strain upon the cleric's face spoke for itself. Even BMJ reached into his bag, and — aside from taking out another dagger — threw a dozen Mana Pots at Milam.

They marched and ran until they came face-to-face with Geb.

Now Milam's barriers were taking all of Geb's spells full-on, as McFarvo had done, and the cleric could only gulp down Mana Pots as if they were the very juice of life to maintain his strength. Meanwhile, BMJ began stabbing at Geb with his two Agateclaw daggers, though his attacks were repelled by the Tomb God's barriers. Yet still the Rogue persisted, and he continued slashing Geb's shield in his ultimate attempt to break it down. Claire helped as well by blasting the God with spells from her Aether Stone. Of particular aid to them was the magical field of speed, or Anti-Stasis (as Liwen had called it), a barrier that Milam had never used before, for now Claire and BMJ's attacks were doubled in their agility.

It was a battle to see whose barrier would break down first.

Over and over again Claire blasted Geb's barrier with spells of fire from her Aether stone, until the Huntress was so tired out that she simply collapsed upon her knees. BMJ continued to stab at Geb's shields, slowly whittling it down bit by bit until his dagger just seemed to touch the edge of the God's body. Yet, after a while, it was obvious whose barrier was depleting faster — it was Milam's. Even with Claire and BMJ helping him, their total damage output simply could not match the sheer destructive force of Geb's magics, which contained power far beyond their knowing. It took only a minute before Milam completely ran out of Mana Pots to drink, and he was heaving and gasping as if he had just run a marathon. The others looked at the Cleric hopelessly as they began to realize the direness of their situation.

If Milam let even one of his barriers down, a calamity would befall them.

With one final burst of energy, Claire summoned up a massive fireball from her Aether Stone and launched it at Geb. At the same time, BMJ threw his own body forward and smashed his two Agateclaw daggers into the God's shield. The two of them were now so terribly worn out that they could hardly stand upon their feet; Claire and BMJ sank to the floor. But worst of all was Milam, for the strain of maintaining the barriers around the group used up so much of his energy that he began to feel the very life being drained out of his body. His face had now become pale, and tears were welling up in his eyes; the cleric nearly began clutching at his throat as he realized that he hardly even had the strength to breathe or exhale anymore . Yet still Milam kept his wand up in the air, holding it there so that his shields could remain, even if doing so would cost him his very life. It was the only thing that he could do to protect his friends.

 _My…life? Am I going to die here?_

The smoke from Claire's fireball began to clear. What appeared behind its fiery veil would reveal the fate of their struggle against the last of the Tomb Gods.

 _If I die…no, but I promised Liwen…_

 _I promised Kirie and Liwen…that I would return soon…_

Milam's eyes flashed wide open in horror as he saw that Geb still remained standing, and the barrier was still up around the God. At that very moment, for just a split second, the shock of seeing their failure made the cleric lose his concentration — and that was all the time that the Tomb God needed to finish them off. There came such a massive blast of magic that both Claire and BMJ were hurtled several feet through the air, and they smashed into walls; Milam shrieked as a dozen streams of dark lightning coursed through his body. It was the end. It was the moment of Geb's inevitable victory, and they would all die.

 _NO!_

Yet the Cleric still remained standing.

As tears streamed down his face, Milam suddenly grabbed at something that he had kept inside his pocket for a very long time — it was a familiar vial of magic, and inside pulsed a memory, a promise that forced him to continue fighting despite the hopelessness of his situation. The cleric reached into his pocket and threw out Liwen's vial of magic at Geb, and the bottle smashed into pieces upon the God's barrier.

 _It was my signal. This bottle could send a flare high enough up into the sky that Liwen would be able to see…_

Out came a gargantuan explosion of magic, and pillars of rainbow-coloured fire smashed into Geb's barrier with such force that the God's shield instantly disintegrated. At that moment, Geb's eyes flashed open, and then Milam saw — for the first time — the figure that was Artemn within the God's body, and not the Ancient that currently stood before him. Artem was Geb's weak side, the part of him that still remained human despite his transformation into a God, and Milam could see this weakness in Geb's eyes. Fear seemed to suddenly pour into the expression upon the God's face, but before he could defend himself -

Milam raised his wand up to Geb's forehead, and blasted the God with a spell at point blank range. All the cleric saw after that was a flash of white, and then streaming lights began to swirl about his head. He was enveloped in a release of pure energy.

 _I've done it…_

 _I've…_

 _Finally…_

 _Defeated…_

 _The Ancients…_

He heard the sound of his own body collapsing to the floor.

* * *

I've never been so relieved.

I don't know why, but I can't help but feel a strange and elated sense of happiness right now. Well, it's not any sort of happiness that I've longed for, really. But it's been a while since I was so calm. When was the last time I had felt like this?

…I guess it had been one of my nostalgic moments of conversation with Kirie. He knows some of the most amazing things, especially about our past life, and my forgotten memories.

We were at Laviel Hills that day, which lay east of Nexus. There's this really pretty tree there called the Blossom Tree, which had both black and white leaves. It grew on top of this tall hill, and below the hill was a small lake where we sat in the afternoon.

It was about evening time when we began talking. Kirie and I sat together upon the edge of the lake, upon the lush wet grass that grew amongst the tall reeds and cattails. I didn't really know what to say at first — this was before I decided to settle down in a house at Dale's Port. But then, Kirie started talking. He just kind of poured everything out at me when I told him that I would hear whatever was on his mind. He remembered a surprising lot about the world before.

None of us know about that world.

I sat there and heard the rustling of grass as the wind blew across the hills, and I saw the bright white light from the stars reflected in the still water of the pond like tiny gleaming little crystals. Kirie told me about the place that he lived in before he came into this world. It was a city very different from the towns of this world, and yet it was very similar as well. He told me how, unlike this world, the lights inside the city never shut down at night. He could walk out of his house and explore the streets even when the skies above him were dark.

The cities were very festive and full of people. In the afternoon he would stand upon the balcony of his apartment and watch the setting of the sun from a very tall height. The skies would be the colour of lavender, and as the sun descended beyond the horizon the entire city would light up, so that it never got dark. Life had been so much more carefree back then. We all lived comfortably and had lots of stuff and we could always buy more things if we wanted to.

So, why this? Why the injustice of being brought into this Realm?

And then I saw tears flowing down Kirie's face. That was the first emotional outburst I've ever seen from the boy. He seemed to wonder why all of us were brought into this world, a question that I frequently asked as well. I couldn't give him any answers, so I simply told him that perhaps one day, we could go back. Perhaps we'll be able to leave the Realm, and then we could go into the city at night and make ourselves happy again. I knew in my heart that it was a false hope, but even then, I wanted to believe in what I said…I just wanted to believe that I could make Kirie happy…

I couldn't help but feel sorry for him, so I wiped some of the tears off his face. We must've learned that day what it meant to be happy. All of us have to suffer a bit before we can really appreciate what we have. I also realized that we all have something that we cling on to — whether it be a memory, a friend, an item, or whatever — something that we'd never let go.

So I sat by the pond with Kirie that day, and I listened to him talk while watching the twinkling stars upon the lake. Even though he was crying, the boy still had a smile upon his face, and I could tell that he was trying very hard to forget about the past and just move on with his life. It made me happy to hear Kirie speak so passionately about something…and yet, I was sad that I could do nothing to help him…

* * *

 _Oh, what is that music?_

 _It's a different melody this time…but I've definitely heard it before._

 _It's being played out on a flute, isn't it? A flute…Kirie?_

Milam opened up his eyes and found himself lying down upon a couch. The cleric felt a throbbing pain in his head, and his legs hurt when he tried to move them. Slowly, Milam lifted his hands up to his face and rubbed his eyes to clear up his misty vision. A few seconds later the cleric looked up again, and everything seemed clearer to him; the walls, the floor, the ceiling…and then it hit him. Instantly Milam realized that he was inside his own house — there was no mistaking the way that everything looked, the blandness of it all. _I never had any money for interior decoration, anyways._ But the homely nature of this house made him feel glad, and — for the first time in a long while — he felt safe and relaxed again.

And sitting beside him was Liwen; Kirie stood nearby, playing a soft and flowing melody upon his flute.

"You're awake," Liwen whispered. "It's nice to have you back. You were out for over two days."

 _Two days?_

Milam stretched again before sitting up, and once again he felt a burning pain in his legs - he realized they must have been the scars from his terrible battle with the Ancients back inside the Tomb. He couldn't have felt happier, however, to see both Kirie and Liwen alive and well beside him.

 _I've missed the two of you.._

 _Back when I fought against Geb inside the Tomb, I thought that was going to be it…I thought I was going to die…_

The cleric raised his hand up into the air and waved shyly at Kirie while the boy continued playing his song.

 _The thought of never seeing the two of you again…I just couldn't take it…_

 _I…I never want to leave you guys again._

"Well done, by the way," Liwen added; Milam thought he heard a tone of repressed sarcasm inside his voice, as was usual of the gray-robed boy. The cleric thought of it no further, for at the moment all he wanted to be was happy and free from his usual worries.

"The others told me everything about your bravery in the battle against the Ancients."

 _Wait…the 'others'? Does he mean Claire and BMJ?_

Milam turned around and gave Liwen a concerned look. "Did they all make it?"

"Well, McFarvo didn't," the gray-robed boy responded. "The Huntress told me that he had perished unfortunately at the hands of Geb right before you launched your final charge."

Milam took a deep breath. "Oh," he said sadly.

 _My 'final charge,' huh?_

"But BMJ and Claire are both alive and well. They were the ones that actually brought you out of the tomb and took you over to your house. I was waiting for you when they arrived."

The Cleric sighed, and then he leaned back against the couch and closed his eyes. "I see. What else happened?"

"Let me finish my story. Well, a lot's happened, actually — first of all, the entire town felt it: the destruction of the ancients, I mean. Claire said that you had struck their leader, Geb, down with that magic-in-a-vial thing I had given you. At that moment all the people in the city heard it, including me — it sounded like a low rumble, coming from somewhere deep inside the Earth."

 _Wow…was my attack really that powerful?_

"But then everyone became relieved. All of a sudden they felt as if something dark and atrocious had parted from this world. We all knew, then, that you had succeeded and the Ancients were dead. Immediately everyone set to work dismantling the Sphinx, which turned out to be a lot easier than building it. Our strongest wizards simply cast a few spells, and then the entire statue collapsed to the ground. Over the past two days we've been cleaning the town up and rebuilding this place — specifically Artem's old charity house — and basically everything seems to have calmed down a bit. The city is peaceful again."

Milam smiled to himself. _I've done a great favour for this town, then_ , he thought to himself. _Damn — I don't want to feel so arrogant. I should be as modest as possible._

"That's good," the Cleric replied, trying to keep his voice as patient and stoic as possible in order to hold back his happiness. "Does the town know — well, who exactly performed the favour of bringing down the Ancients?"

Liwen shrugged in response, before throwing a sly and sneaky smile at Milam. "You want some fame for yourself, don't you?"

The Cleric shook his head. "Oh, not at all," he replied. "In fact, it'd be better if word didn't get out about it. I don't want any sort of popularity for myself."

"That's a lie," Liwen said with a smirk. "You've always complained about how poor you are. But once you get famous, there's no way you'd ever go hungry again — if I was in your situation, I'd accept all my praise wholeheartedly."

 _Oh, really?_

Milam leaned forward and closed his eyes again. "No, you don't understand," he answered calmly. "I know what my goals are and what I want — and fame just doesn't belong in any part of it."

"Your goals?"

The Cleric did not respond but rather simply sat in silence, listening to the melody that Kirie was playing upon his flute. He thought that he had heard the song somewhere before, though it was definitely different from the other tune that Kirie had played when they were inside that Aether Cave; the one that made him feel a nostalgic sort of joy. No, this one was sad as well, but it filled him up with courage and hope, as if it urged him to continue living for his happiness. There was a quaint tranquility in the melody, and he almost thought that perhaps there were lyrics to it.

 _Come to think of it, I do remember a lot of songs from my past…melodies that Kirie knows as well. I wonder how they all relate?_

Milam opened up his eyes and looked up at the ceiling, and he thought for a second that he should sing to the music that Kirie was playing. Yes, there were definitely lyrics to this song…but how did they go?

Kirie ended the song, and he put the flute down upon the chair beside him. The boy turned and smiled cheerfully at Milam, but he did not really say anything.

"That was wonderful," the Cleric said, and he clapped his hands softly. "You can play the flute really well. And I think I knew the song that you were playing, too."

"I know," Kirie responded simply before sitting down.

 _He knows? What does that mean?_

Feeling suddenly tired again, the Cleric allowed himself to lie down back upon the couch, this time upon Liwen's lap. This seemed to surprise the gray-robed boy at first, and he threw Milam an awkward frown. But Milam simply closed his eyes and allowed himself to rest — if not a bit playfully, just to annoy Liwen.

 _Now I can't deny my gratefulness towards you, either,_ the Cleric thought as he looked up mischievously at Liwen's face. _Without your wand or your magic-in-a-vial, I wouldn't have survived my battle with the Ancients. You gave me the means to defeat them._

"Would you…" Liwen began, but he quickly shut himself up. Milam smiled again, and then he took a deep breath. He noticed that Liwen was grinning at him as well, though he could feel that the boy was rather tense.

 _Relax. Shut up._

Milam absentmindedly raised his hand and moved it towards the side of Liwen's face. Without looking he suddenly tapped his fingers upon and began stroking Liwen's lips, even going so far as to rub his thumb against his teeth, which almost made the boy recoil in bewilderment. Next, Milam caressed Liwen's cheeks, and then he moved his hand up farther to touch the boy upon his forehead, and he parted a few strands of dark brown hair along the way.

"Umm, Milam…"

"Be quiet."

Milam turned around and saw that Kirie had an awkward smile upon his face, one that he easily recognized. Whenever he did something embarrassing Kirie would half-roll his eyes and stare up diagonally at the ceiling while biting his lips. The Cleric quickly looked away and began concentrating upon Liwen again.

He sat up and kissed the gray-robed boy softly upon the lips.

 _I'm not doing this for any special reason, Liwen._

That was when there came a knock upon the door, and Milam groaned a bit. _I wanted to continue this_ , he thought before pushing himself off Liwen's lap so that the boy could get up. Liwen went towards the door to greet his visitors, and a second later Claire and BMJ came in. Milam looked at the two of them in surprise.

"Hey! You're okay!" Claire yelled as she rushed into the room and threw Milam a hug. BMJ followed right after; that was when the cleric first noticed that there was something pressing against his chest. He did not turn to look towards it, though, for he was too preoccupied at the moment with greeting his friends.

"How are you doing?" BMJ asked.

Milam shrugged a bit. "Fine, I guess, if not a bit sore. Are you two okay as well?"

"Of course we are," Claire said, before suddenly pointing towards something that lay around the cleric's neck. Milam looked and saw that a thick brown piece of string hung there. He reached into his shirt and pulled out what looked like an emerald green stone rimmed with gold.

"You should thank Liwen for crafting that. It probably saved your life."

 _Huh?_

Claire and BMJ seated themselves upon two chairs while Liwen returned to the couch. Milam quickly took the amulet off and inspected it closely.

"Oh. I actually forgot to tell you about that," the gray-robed boy said before taking the stone from Milam's hands. "This is Claire's Aether Stone. When mixed with 'Life Water' in solution, the Amulet of Resurrection can be forged."

 _An amulet…of 'Resurrection'!?_

"Fascinating, isn't it?" BMJ commented. "I never knew that magic could bring the dead back to life. This is a major breakthrough in the Realm."

Claire reached into her bag and took out a familiar-looking vial containing a colourful teal liquid inside. "Remember this? I collected it from the remains of the Sarcophagus inside the Tomb. This is the 'Life Water.' I gave it to Liwen along with my 'Aether Stone', and he was able to forge the Amulet within a few hours."

 _Wait…so does that mean…I was dead!?_

Liwen noticed the concerned look upon Milam's face. "You were very, very close to dying," he said in a sympathetic tone of voice. "There was a chance that you actually recovered by yourself, but it wasn't likely; the Amulet did the trick, then. You were brought back to life."

 _So…I died, and then I was resurrected?_

Claire folded her arms and sighed. "Don't be so surprised. We did everything that we could, and in the end, our efforts paid off."

"We owe you one, too," BMJ added. "Your final attack there was what finished Geb off when both of us were incapacitated. Without you, we would not have been able to win that battle."

Milam looked up at Claire. "You had to sacrifice your Aether Stone to make this?"

The Huntress nodded. "Without a second thought. The stone may have been powerful, but the life of a friend was far more important. And thanks to Liwen, you were brought back to life."

Milam turned towards Liwen. At first, the look upon his face was one of shock and bewilderment, but slowly he began to smile, and then finally he let himself go in a burst of mirthful laughter.

"…Thank you. Thank you all," Milam said, nodding towards the others.

 _Especially you, Liwen. You're amazing. More reason for me to be grateful…_

"We're really, really glad to have you back," Claire said before extending her hands out towards the cleric. Milam reached forward and gave her a tight hug.

"Unfortunately, we can't bring McFarvo back," BMJ added with a sullen look upon his face. "The archer was completely vapourized. It's a shame that we've lost a veteran of this Realm."

Milam sat back down upon the couch and sighed. "Yeah. It's terrible what happened to him. I only wish…I only wish that we could've all made it out of that battle alive."

For a while there was silence in the room, and nobody spoke. Despite the cleric's sudden outburst of happiness earlier, everyone now seemed mournful.

"You know…that might not actually be the case," Claire said suddenly, and instantly all eyes were upon her.

"You're all going to call me crazy, but I'm going to have to bring up my 'Dream Theory' again. "

 _Dream theory, huh? Could that actually be true? I remember the Ancients mentioning Oryx and his 'Nightmares' before we fought them…_

"Go ahead," Liwen answered.

The Huntress nodded. "People don't die in dreams — that's just not possible. Rather, I think that in this world, everyone who dies just come back to life, but with no memories of their past selves."

 _Uh…what?_

"This might sound extremely implausible — and I know that none of you will believe me — but I think I saw one of my 'dead' friends just the other day," Claire continued. She blinked several times and then sighed. "Her name was Kira. Killed by a Cube God five months ago, she was a wizard and one of my closest friends…"

 _Kira?_

"…You know what? Forget what I just said." Claire looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath. "That's another story for another time. We all have our own stories, don't we?"

"In a world where magic and monsters — and now even resurrection - exists, you can never be too sure of anything," BMJ said. "What you're saying might be true, Claire, but there's no way for us to confirm it…not unless all of us sees someone come back to life by ourselves — without the use of an amulet, that is;" and the Rogue turned towards Milam.

Claire laughed. "That's not the important issue that we've come here to discuss, though." The Huntress suddenly reached into her bag and took out an object shaped like a gold-and-orange disc.

"What's that?" Liwen asked.

"Geb dropped this," the Huntress responded. "I have no idea what it is, but I think it's important."

"And that's why we plan to journey to Nexus to ask others about it," BMJ added. "There are much more veterans there than here in this town. If nobody knows, then we could go farther east to Fedrinas Kingdom, where there's a giant library for us to do research."

 _A gold-and-orange disc…_

"So, we came here to ask you if you wanted to come along," Claire said.

Milam closed his eyes and quickly shook his head. "I'm not like you guys," he said with a shy smile upon his face. "I think I've had my fair share of journeying for a while. I've made some fame and gotten some riches, so I'm quite well-off living in this town by myself."

BMJ nodded. "We knew you would say that," he replied. "That's perfectly fine with us. You've fought some tough battles and shown us how courageous you can be. We're more than willing to let you take a break."

Claire stood up from her seat and put the disc back into her bag. "But we're still going, though. The two of us are leaving tomorrow morning at dawn."

Milam nodded and leaned back in his couch. "Good luck, then," he said. "I guess I'll see you guys sometime later."

The Cleric turned towards Liwen and Kirie. Both of them nodded as well.

"Speaking of which, it's getting late," BMJ commented. "We need to go back to our houses and pack for our upcoming journey."

The two of them made their way towards the door. Milam followed after them and gave the two a final goodbye.

"Be safe!" The Cleric said, before reaching forward and shaking their hands. "You guys are great. I enjoyed fighting with you two, and I hope to see you again!"

Claire smiled. "It was fun traveling with you too, Milam," she said. The Huntress then turned towards Liwen and Kirie and waved at the two of them. "Goodbye, all of you!"

"Bye!" They shouted back.

Milam watched as the two left his house and prepared to depart back to their homes — or basically BMJ's house, since Claire didn't have a place to live in this town. "Good luck!" He shouted to them a final time, and watched his two friends walk away into the distance.

The cleric returned into his house and looked towards Kirie and Liwen. "Well, guys?"

Liwen shrugged, and Kirie reached for his flute again.

 _Looks like everything is well. I've got food and equipment, the monsters have been driven out of this town, and I can finally live peacefully again._

"Liwen," Milam whispered as he turned towards the gray-robed boy. He noticed that, despite being about a year younger than him, Liwen was actually a bit taller — it was just a random observation. The Cleric smiled, and then he bowed his head. "Thank you for everything."

The boy seemed to chuckle a bit. "I guess I really did help you out a lot, didn't I?"

"Yeah."

Then Milam turned towards Kirie, and — without hesitation — reached forward to give a boy a hug. They embraced for a long while, and neither spoke during that time.

 _I know that you aren't so fragile, but still, I won't leave you again._

The Cleric reached down and kissed the boy upon his forehead, and then he stood up and walked into the kitchen. First, he would have to make dinner for the night, and then they would have a long talk with each other about all that has happened.

* * *

What time is it again? 'Who is it?'

…

Oh…am I asleep? Am I having a dream…again?

"You've always been dreaming."

Wait…what!? Who are you? Where are you? Why are you talking to me..?

…

"You don't recognize who I am?"

No, I don't. Not really…

"…I am the one who controls this Realm. Do not be afraid. Claire has spoken to you what I have told her, but she only knows part of the truth."

…You!?

"I am freed at last. For too long I have dreamt this time, the shadows plaguing my mind. You have rid me of my demons, Milam, and for that I am glad. You have disposed of the Ancients. They were a thorn at my side, always trying to take over my Realm."

You…why are you talking to me?

"Do you not wish to know about this Realm and it's purpose?"

Yes…but why?

"Consider it as my reward. At times I will give those who I consider worthy my knowledge."

Alright, then. Go on.

"In a time long past I sealed myself in eternal sleep, and with it the origins of magic. In fact, magic disappeared right off the face of the Earth. This was around the time referred to as the 'Dark Ages'…there's a reason why the medieval times are so popularly associated with magic, you know. But all of it disappeared from the Earth when I sealed it away, and magic no longer exists on your planet."

"I was a powerful magician then…but I was disgusted with humanity. We warred too much, we killed for pleasure, we…we are exactly what we fear. I wanted to sleep, to erase the evils of mankind from my memory. But one cannot sleep forever, and at times I was exposed to the horrors of the world: genocides, famines, torture, enslavement…I grew mad, and I wanted, then, to just destroy everything…"

"In my mind I conjured up the Realm, a world of dreams, and within that dream I filled it with everything that humanity feared: monsters, and magic. The 'Ancients', for example, were the Gods of an old religion that humans used to worship. I spent years crafting this world…I did not want to wake up and leave it behind. I needed to convince myself that the world I created was nothing less than real, even if it was just a dream…"

"I used my magic to steal those who slept and bring them into my world. That way we all slept, and we dreamt a collective dream. Your thoughts, Milam, as well as those of everybody else in this Realm, are all a part of my thoughts. Why do this? I needed to delude myself…yes, I may be the Mad God, but I am well aware of my madness…as a collective identity what is 'truth' is simply the majority's truth. Faced with fear, humans no doubt fought for their survival in this Realm, and their efforts filled me up with hope. A hope that this Realm was real, and the evil world outside was not…"

"For in this Realm, humans fight against monsters and not amongst themselves. I have slept for a thousand years, far longer than I have actually lived in the real world. Thus I know that the Realm is real, even if it is just a dream. For it is a far more pleasant dream than anything else in reality, and I shall stay here, and continue to bring humans into this world forever…"

…What!? So that you can just kill them all!?

"Ha, ha, ha! It is no more than the suffering you bring amongst yourselves! At least in the Realm everyone is united and rallied together under one single cause: the goal of destroying me, the Mad God. There is no conflict amongst humans in this universe, not like the terrible, terrible world that exists outside. This Realm is a paradise!"

…I can't believe this…

"But I have spoken too much. I say this to you because it is a fitting ending to your story, Milam. Everyone in this world has their own story, their own path that they follow."

"Sometimes I dream of Nightmares, and that's when the Aether and many monsters arrive. I tell you everything because you have done a deed to me; you have allowed me to vanquish these Nightmares so that I can dream longer of this Realm…so that this world may remain eternal. That is your story, Milam. It is the book that you have written with your own accomplishments. I simply wish to make you aware of what you have done for me."

…

Oh…

Is that it…? Is this…what I've been doing all this time?

"Goodbye, Milam. Perhaps one day we shall meet again upon the battlefield when I arrive to terrorize the humans of this Realm."

No!

…You're leaving already?

"…"

Oryx…

That's…that's the reason why this Realm exists!?

* * *

Milam's eyes flashed open, and he felt his heart pounding heavily. He looked around him and saw that Kirie was sleeping peacefully upon the couch. Liwen had already left and returned back to his own house by the end of the evening. The Cleric looked out the window and saw that the skies were magenta in colour, and streaks of golden were appearing from behind the horizon.

 _It's morning time._

Without thinking the cleric suddenly rushed towards the door. He ran out of his house and down the steps of his front porch; then out of his garden until he was on the streets. Milam turned a corner and ran northwards as fast as he could, towards the eastern exit of the town. It was not too far away from where he lived — and he hoped that he could get there in time. He passed by the town square, where many early morning shoppers stood by the marketplace purchasing their food; he made his way down many streets and past many tall buildings — including even the demolished charity and the rock garden beside it - until finally the front gate of Dale's Port came into sight.

It had already been opened.

He rushed outside and saw the wide expanse of the plains before him. A cool wind blew by, ruffling the lush green grass — wet with morning dew — around his feet. In the distance he saw standing upon the hills two familiar and shadowy figures, one holding a big red bow. He watched them depart slowly down the other side of the hill until they were well out of sight, and then the morning sun appeared up in the sky, rising from beyond the eastern horizon.

 _Claire…you were right._

Milam thought about what he had dreamt, and whether or not anything Oryx had said to him was true. He could not really confirm that it had been the Mad God speaking to him — perhaps he had imagined it all this time.

He was reminded of the time that he had stood out upon the beaches north of Dale's Port and observed the waves. He had thought then about the eternal drifting of the tides, and how the ocean waves would go on forever, even if everything else around it would eventually disappear.

 _But so what if this Realm is all just a dream?_

In the Realm, nothing lasted forever. But he didn't care, as long as his friends and the people that he loved were beside him. That was all that mattered.

 _I know what's important…I have Kirie and Liwen with me, and I will protect them with all my heart._

The Cleric raised his hand up into the air and waved goodbye, even though he knew that Claire and BMJ could not see him. With a heavy sigh, he turned around and prepared to depart back towards his home, the place where he knew he truly belonged.

The End


End file.
